I'd Come for You
by Raehound
Summary: Ling Yao accomplished what he set out to do and, after procuring the Philosophers Stone, he's set on the path to become the next Emperor of Xing. But not long after returning, his most trusted guard, his shadow Lan Fan, disappears. It doesn't take long for him to discover who's behind her disappearance, but that is only the beginnings of his troubles.
1. Chapter 1

A/N I am so sorry. There was a huge hiccup and somehow this got deleted. So I'm re uploading as fast as I can...cause apparently I have to fix all these again cause they keep uploading in huge paragraph form. I thought I had it fixed but I do not. So please bear with me as I re upload what was lost.

She should have seen this coming really. She'd known for ages that the whole of the Palace had been keeping a weary eye on them. Since they were children in fact. Yet some small part of her always told her that nothing would come of it. Ling wouldn't let anything come of it.

...well now she was seeing just how wrong her assumption had been. Only a week after the Promised Day...she was taken, and she was now separated from the soon to be Emperors side. She never even saw it coming really. Either because she truly had become so naive over the years, or because she let her guard down after everything that happened. Either way...she was far from the Palace now.

She still wasn't entirely sure what her predicament really was, but she knew she'd find out soon. What she did know was wherever she was now had a heavy stench of decay and general non cleanliness.  
She was alone in a dark stone-faced cell. The walls were slick with the rain water that dripped in from an apparent hole somewhere in the roof. Normally she would take advantage of such a flaw, knowing the structure would be weak at that point. But with nothing but her mere hands, there was nothing she could do about it.  
She shivered quietly, pulling into herself. All she wore was a hole ridden...well she may as well call it a sack really. It had the same texture and really looked nothing like actual clothing.  
Judging by that, she hazarded a guess she was being sold into the slave trade. Though that would be the least of her worries. She knew of all the different 'trades' that ran in the underground of this country. Trades the Emperor seemed fit to turn a blind eye too.  
She knew he always would. That's where he got a lot of the palace servants from after all. Slaves don't have to be paid.

She settled her arms on her drawn up knees and buried her face in them. She knew this was pretty much the end of the road for her. If she really was on the Black Market, she could really end up anywhere in the world. And women sold fast on the market. And she didn't have to have a huge imagination to know why. She knew the fate that would soon befall her if she didn't get away.

But she was well guarded. They knew damn well what she was capable of, and judging by how she was handled on the way here, she could tell the men holding her were Ex-military. Of course that'd be the case. They'd be the only ones with even a chance of keeping her in line. And so far they did it well. All her limbs were in metal cuffs, chained to the wall. Even her neck had a heavy metal collar around it. The chains had a short run to them, not really giving her much in the way of movement. She couldn't even reach the center of the room and she could barely reach the metal bucket that was meant to be her toilet. They never even saw fit to clean the damn thing.

Tears slowly slipped down her face as she slowly began to accept her fate. This wasn't like her. She'd always try to find some way out of a situation even if she had no weapons or anything else at her disposal. But the passed few months brought a change in her. She'd always been at Ling's side as far back as she could remember. And even when she was just kitchen staff, Ling would see fit to 'alleviate' her of her duties and drag her along for whatever scheme his mind could come up with. And she had no doubt when her grandfather brought her in for guard training, that Ling was actually the one to suggest it.

She spent years at his side. Quietly watching his back. Killing anyone who dared tried to touch him. But it had for the most part been a quiet existence in the shadows...not the direct fighting at his side she'd been doing for the last few months. She'd gotten too close to him. Allowing feelings she easily quelled, to win out at last.  
And because of all that...she actually felt hopeless. All her training was being squashed by the overwhelming feelings of her heart. She lost all hold on herself.  
So here she was...alone and unsure exactly where she was, crying into her arms. Dreading the future that awaited her.  
After what seemed like ages, Lan Fan could hear footsteps resounding along the concrete floors. She waiting quietly, holding her breath as she waited to see who's cell the person would stop in front of.  
Of course, it would be hers. She swore under her breath as she continued to wait, eyes locked coldly on the cell door.

Soon there was a clanging of keys, the click of the lock, and the door opened with a loud screech.  
She couldn't help but squint her eyes as the light from the hall poured in, stinging at her.  
For a long moment nothing happened. The person just stood there, silhouetted by the light behind. Then slowly, the form came forward. A man, as she supposed.

Still nothing was said as he walked forward, kneeling in front of her. She almost grimaced as the stench hit her nose. Blood, sweat, and what was that? Maybe a bit of opium permeating from the man.  
She ended up scrunching her nose in spite of herself. The man just grinned, showing the multiple gaps he had from missing teeth. And the stench that came just from that made her think he ate from a garbage heap. His yellowing teeth driving home that this man lacked any sort of hygiene skills.  
Lan Fan studied him for a moment as he continued to grin. Well, he was Xingese, so she was probably still in Xing somewhere. Good to know.  
That's about as far as she got in her perusing before he reached forward and wrapped his hand around her throat, slamming her head back against the wall. She winced and swore to herself. With her instincts and chi reading she should have seen that coming. Not like she could do much about it, but still.

He continued to grin as he held her in place, turning her head from side to side, inspecting her.  
"You're probably one of the prettiest ones we had in a while. I'd keep you myself if the boss would let me." He grinned a bit more, leaning forward and licking the side of her face from chin to just below her eye. She tried her best at this point to pull away but he slammed her head against the wall again.

"No no. Bad girl. Don't know what freedoms you had before but you ain't got em' here. So learn some damn manners."

The rage rising in her at this moment was something new. All her life she bowed down to everyone, spoke only when spoken too. Never losing control and speaking back. Always sticking to the shadows. Far enough away to not be seen, yet close enough to strike out and kill anyone who tried to harm Ling before they even got close enough to breathe on him.  
Always subservient and loyal. Never striking out on her own.

That all changed with the events in Amestris. For the first time ever, she was constantly separated from Ling. Even having to leave him to Greed's charge. (not that any of them had a choice in that matter)She had hated it, but at the same time it afforded them some time to prepare. But it stung. It stung, and it burned, and everything that happened after that just piled on. Building the flames within her to the heights of a massive funeral pyre.  
For the first time ever...she felt true and utter rage. Something she never afforded herself before because it blinded her. It's what got her caught to begin with the first time she met Ed and fought with him.  
But it grew, and her Grandfathers death struck the final match inside. This new part of her did not seem to want to be extinguished. It just grew more and more. And this vile idiot was only fueling the flames further.  
Within seconds, before the man had any time to react, she snapped her head to the side and clamped down on three of his fingers.

The metallic taste crept through her mouth, but she continued to bite down, ignoring the blood filling her mouth. His yells made her flinch slightly as he was quite close to her ear.  
He lashed out and smacked her with his free hand, sending her crashing to the floor and causing her to tear her teeth across his fingers as she did so. He yelled again, furious.

"BITCH!" He raised his foot to stomp down on her but a voice from behind stilled him.

"That's enough Niu." His foot paused just above her head, hovering there for a moment before he pulled it back.

"Bitch bit me!"

"You should know better than to get too close to the prisoners. It's your own damn fault." His eyes were narrow slits as he approached, eying his companion up. Wisely the other, Niu as he was called, stepped to the side. But this did nothing to prevent the punch that connected with the side of his head.

Niu, obviously not being prepared for the blow, was flung backwards into the wall. He leaned against it for a moment before crumpling to the floor in a heap, holding the side of his head and looking up at his companion.

"How many times do I have to tell you!? Don't ruin the merchandise!" The other yelled, and for good measure, kicked Niu in the ribs. "Now go back to your patrols! And unless there's a good reason, do not enter the cells!" Niu let out the least manliness squeal possible, before scrambling from the cell, leaving the two of them alone.

Lan Fan looked up at this new character from the corner of her eye. If he had been anyone else she might have thanked him but, he was obviously the one running this place.  
He just stood there, seemingly trying to calm himself. Breathing deep, he shook his head slightly, causing his ponytail to flutter back and forth a bit. His eyes, despite being dark, gave off an ice cold expression and a long deep scar ran from the top of his right eye to just below his bottom lip. He was definitely not a man to be trifled with.  
Finally he looked down at her, running his eyes over her. She couldn't tell if he was just assessing her injuries or doing something more vile. But he seemed satisfied with the results, whatever they were, and bent down and hoisted her back to a sitting position.

"I would advise you not to do that again. You're not in the Palace anymore. Your...tendencies, will not be tolerated."

Lan Fan just glared up at him, that rage sitting at the pit of her stomach, slowly making it's way back up again.

"Being a guard is all you know isn't it?" He continued. "Well, there's use for that I suppose. If someone wants it. But not many girls here get turned into female ring fighters. You'll be expected to do...other things. They won't be kind if you try this on them. You'll get worse then Niu gave you." He turned away from her now, heading back for the door. But he glanced back one more time, a sardonic grin plastered to his face. "The best part of this is, knowing how much that weak Prince of yours...I mean soon to be Emperor, must be blaming himself for all this." Then he stepped out and slammed the door, locking it again.

And how right he had been. Ling had hardly been able to sleep once he got news she was escorted from the Palace. He knew very well what that meant and why it was done. He'd already been to see his father to see if he could turn the order. But to his surprise, he hadn't been the one who gave it. He should have known that. His father being on his death bed meant power turned to a regent. Or to put it more accurately, the Empress. Unless the council had overstepped their power, it was a good bet his mother had ordered her removal. It made a lot of sense this way really. For one, she never liked Lan Fan. Whenever she caught them playing together, she would send him to his room and later in the day he'd see a bruised Lan Fan in the halls. He could never keep his eyes on her in these instances because he knew he helped to cause that. He knew if he just ignored her, put her out of his life, she'd be safe. But he was never able to do that. It hurt so bad when he tried and he could see the same effects on her. They were meant to be friends, and she obviously thought the beatings were worth it. But to him it wasn't. He hated seeing her hurt. And that's when the idea entered his head. He asked Fu to train her, and he begged his father to let it be so.

At the time they were dealing with some internal conflicts so his father had no time for something so trivial, so he authorized it. His mother, he saw, was far from happy with it.  
And now, after all this time, he understood the real reason why. He was so blind to things in those days. He had set his mind to gaining the throne and nothing else. When he turned fifteen, he had made his mind up to go to Amestris and search for the Philosophers Stone. But it was also the age in which young Princes' go through their 'training'. Bedroom practice to put it lightly. To insure the act is done properly to produce many children. Not only was he too busy to care, he just outright didn't care. Another thing he had made his mind up on long ago was he would have no harem. Just one wife and the marriage had to be of love.

When he thought about it a bit, he realized even if he hadn't been so busy, the thought of looking for someone never really crossed his mind. But after the time he spent with Ed, he saw some things that struck him. Only he didn't think about it till now. Ed had a mission as well he centered on. He cared about nothing else but nearly went insane protecting Winry whenever she came in the line of fire.

And then he thought about what he did. Risking Bradley, Wrath, killing him to get Lan Fan to safety. Putting everything he was reaching for aside to protect her. His friend from childhood. He had been doing the same thing as Ed...and that's when it struck him. Something he should have known all along. Something his mother knew long before. He loved her. And that's the reason she was gone now. It couldn't be allowed. And as a further blow, a deliberate blow, she sent her to human traffickers. To drive a point home and to defile her spirit and body.  
He took a deep breath and loosened the grip of his tightened fist from his robes. No wonder Greed took to him so easily. He was too damn greedy, even if he always said it was a good greed. Because truth be told, it wasn't always a good greed. He knew what could happen to Lan Fan from the start. But he didn't want her to leave his side, so he ignored it. He put her in the position she was now in. He had to right this. He had to bring her home. But first...he had to find her.

He covered his face with his hand, taking in a shaky breath. It wouldn't be so easy to get away from the Palace this time. There were always eyes on him now. Either to continue the course of trying to assassinate him, or to protect him. How would he be able to find her? He needed to get information. Normally he could dig in the regional records but, none of the Emperors really cared to center on human trafficking or any kind of human injustice for that matter. So there'd be no reports on locations or arrests or anything. His best option would be to head to the slums and talk to underground traffickers. But again, getting out of the Palace. Lan Fan and Fu may have hated when he ran off, fearing for his safety. But they didn't really stop him either. They'd follow to protect him, Fu throwing protests at him, Lan Fan sometimes almost sounding like she was crying under her mask as she pleaded for him to be more careful.  
He really did cause them trouble didn't he?

And now with Fu gone, he was responsible for Lan Fan.  
Throwing caution to the wind, Ling snuck out of the Palace later that night. He decided a little sleeping powder blown at the guards would more than suffice. Sure they'd think an attack was on when they found them, but it wouldn't take long for them to find he was gone. He'd hear it from his mother and the officials in the morning but, he didn't care. He was going to find Lan Fan and bring her back. He had to.  
Silently he lowered himself from the wall that surrounded the Palace, pulling the hood up over his head as he continued into the dark streets. While he used one hand to keep the hood tighter around his face, the other groped around to make sure his blades were secure where he placed them. He had no one to watch his back now, one slip up and he was finished.

He kept to the shadows, trying to stay hidden yet trying to not look too conspicuous at the same time. But he had a feeling that wouldn't be an issue. He had waited till well after midnight before striking out. Any of the people on the streets were drunk or on their way to do so.  
Problem was, to find who he was looking for at this time of night, he needed to hit the bars. Not the safest place for a Prince nevertheless a soon to be Emperor. The other problem was figuring out which of the many bars the group he was looking for drank at. And one doesn't just 'ask around' either. Anyone looking for guilds like this are usually given passwords by trusted go betweens if they deem them fit as trustworthy.  
He hazarded a guess the different guilds would drink close to their Headquarters, finding it easier to drag their drunk asses home quicker. But he wasn't even sure where the guilds hid out. The one he was looking for used a Roc as their emblem. So he thought to look for an area where there may be depictions of the Roc. And somehow, he was lucky enough to stumble on some. The damn bar was even named The Regal Roc. He wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad omen.

Regardless, he made one last check on his blades, before making his way inside.  
The room inside was a moderate size and had two floors to it. Ornate banisters running along the length of the upper level. The smells of the bar were a mixture of various forms of alcohol,tea, cigarette smoke and a hint of opium. For a moment he slipped his arm over his mouth and nose, worried about a contact buzz or something from the opium that hung in the air.  
He dropped it after a moment and headed for the top level. He knew guilds liked to sit in an area where they could keep an eye on anyone who entered.

And with that thought in mind, he berated himself silently, knowing the very action of covering his mouth was and act of the upper class. Sure he could have just as easily been someone who just didn't like all the smoke. Though why would you go to a bar then? But, he knew that simple motion may make anyone seedy run for the hills.  
It didn't really look like anyone noticed though as far as he could tell, and he finished his assent to the upper level. The next hurdle was looking around and not making it look like you were searching. But sometimes...people just present themselves. He could hear loud hooting and he glanced towards the back of the room.  
He raised a brow.

A Xingese man, probably about his age, was dancing about on a table...naked as a jaybird. He was singing some old folk song Ling had remembered hearing at some point in his life, though where he couldn't say. But it was about the Roc. Last bit of proof he needed that that's who he was looking for. But now he had to approach him.  
Needless to say he wasn't looking forward to it.

Slowly he made his way over, trying to keep from any direct eye contact with the man.  
He was quite obviously drunk. His buddies and other people were laughing at him, while a girl was trying her best to pull him from the table. Swearing at him repeatedly. Finally she seemed to have had enough and swept his feet out from under him, causing him to fall very unceremoniously to the table then to the floor.

"How old are you!? Five!?" She screamed at him, throwing his clothes on top of him. "Put those back on you moron!"

He gave her a rather half-assed pouty look before obliging, much to Ling's relief.  
The crowd slowly dispersed while his buddies were clasping him on the shoulder, teasing him and pointing out 'how small it was.' He got a little hot about it and starting screaming about being cold in there, which Ling realized it kind of was. The massive hole he realized was in the ceiling didn't help but, he supposed it helped the drunk idiots ego a bit.

"Excuse me?" He finally said as he stepped forward. The drunk guy tilted his head at him, instantly suspicious even in spite of his inebriated state.

"Yuh? What you want?"

Ling thought for a moment, knowing he had to speak carefully. He was vastly outnumbered and he wasn't sure if this small group was the only friends the drunk had in the bar.

"I need some help...would you be willing to offer me some information?"

The drunks suspicious look didn't drop and his buddies were positioning themselves around Ling.

"I mean you no harm. I'll even pay you. I just have a simple question."

"And why should I trust you? Probably some soldier in disguise or something." He reached behind his back as he spoke, no doubt reaching for a blade.

"Have you known anyone from the Palace to care about what goes on underground? Only matters to them if you attack them directly. Just give me some info, I give you the money, and you never see me again."

The drunk kept his eyes on him, hand settled on the blade on the back of his belt. "Show me the money first."

"In the middle of a bar full of drunks doesn't seem like the best place..."

"Fine. Follow me." The drunk waved his hand as he stumbled his way to the stairs, some of his buddies grabbing him so he didn't tumble and break his fool neck.

Once they were safely on the ground floor, the drunk lead the way towards the bar, giving the barkeep a nod before heading to the backroom.

Ling was feeling even more vulnerable now than he had amongst the crowd. Yeah, he was worried he'd be jumped for the money but now he was trapped in a room with one way out and three guys blocking the door.

"Well? The money?" The drunk questioned as he flopped down in a chair by a small table.

Slowly Ling pulled the pouch out and slid it across the table to him, careful to keep an eye on the chi of everyone in the room. Looking out for any spike that could mean an attack. So far nothing.

The drunk looked through the pouch, eyes widening a bit. He pulled a coin out and bit into it, making sure it was real. "You sure you ain't at least a noble or something?"

"Yeah right. Like some noble would risk coming to this place in person." ~I am an idiot...~

"Alright." The drunk said at last. "Ask away. Though you may be getting more answers from this lot if we have em' I'm a bit off my rocker at the moment."

"Clearly." Ling mumbled as he took a seat. "...a friend of mine was...kidnapped. It's a good guess she may have been sold on the Black Market..."

"Rough." The drunk said as he leaned back in his chair. "And I'm guessing you wanna know where the traffic runs from here eh? Well just because I traffic, doesn't mean I traffic people. And what I traffic goes elsewhere I'm sure."

"So you're telling me you don't know?"

"No. I'm saying humans and guns and drugs are two different things. They change the route a lot with humans. Palace may not care but the people do. Vigilantes hunt them down all the time."

"Whats a more common path then? Or better yet, is there a pattern when they switch?"

The drunk waved his hand slightly, clearly his mind was beyond fried by this point. It was now that the girl spoke up, leaning back against the wall. She blew a strand of hair out of her face, looking all the more irritated.

"A pattern is the last thing they'd have. If they had to resort to using the same path more than once, they'd have people to cover their tracks. You're not talking amateurs here. And frankly I think you're wasting your time. No one who's thrown on the human market gets found again. Not usually in one piece anyway."

Ling had just about enough at this point. He got up, his chair falling to the floor behind him as he slammed his hands down on the table. "I know you guys don't really have anyone to really give a...SHIT about! But that doesn't mean you have to do everything to make someone already hurting feel worse!"

The three guys at the door started to move forward but the drunk put up his hand to halt them, turning his gaze slightly to regard the girl leaning on the wall behind him. "Don't be a bitch."

"Only speaking the truth."

"Sometimes a lies better." The drunk turned his gaze back to regard Ling again. "How long has your friend been gone?"

"...about a month..."

The girl gave a throaty grunt. "Friends sold pal, or dead."

"Qiao! Enough!" The drunk rubbed at his temples, headache already forming. "Ok man...so your friends a girl eh?"

Ling only nodded.

"Ok. Sex trade then most likely, sorry to say. But the chances of her survival are a bit higher."

"Also not the answer I was looking for...Besides, she's not the...quiet type. She'll bite back."

The drunk frowned a bit. "They're not thrown right on the sale block. They usually keep them at a way station sort of thing. They break them there. And they do break..."

Ling flashed him a confused look.

"...we had a friend taken too..." The girl spoke again. "She was destroyed...she killed herself not long after we found her."

The room just fell silent. The whole of the room just felt permeated with the feeling of defeat and Ling felt like he was probably already too late. But he had to bring her home...regardless of her state.

"...thank you for your help..." He said quietly as he turned for the door.

"Wait." The drunk said as he got to his feet with a bit of effort. "There may still be time for her. If she's as tough as you say she is...it'll take longer to break her. We have time to work out the route."

"We?" Ling asked as he looked over his shoulder. "You guys are...I only asked for information".

"We have a friend to avenge. In a way...we can by helping you." The girl said, far less bite to her tone.

"...you have no idea how much this means to me..."

"Sure we do." The drunk said, giving a bit of a grin. "What we wished we had when we were looking for our friend. Names Li by the way. This here's my sister, Qiao. And we're gonna help you take down those damn assholes."


	2. Chapter 2

Ling slipped back into the palace in the early hours of the morning. He had a few things he had to sort out before leaving to find Lan Fan.  
First thing he did was find someone to keep an eye on things while he was away. The last thing he needed was for one of his siblings to take advantage of his absence and take the palace while he was away.  
Next thing he wanted to do, was talk to his father. He wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to to be honest. He just felt like he needed a few answers, and possibly, get a bit of aid from his father. He knew his father would find no reason to back him up while he was gone, but it was worth a try. His father had always looked down on him for being weak in his eyes. But he was hoping since the old man was on his death bed, he'd be a bit more personable. He hoped anyway.

The sky was only now taking on a light bluish hue as he slipped into his fathers room. That was the first thing he noticed once he had been named as the next Emperor, the guards were lacking outside his fathers chambers. Either they just didn't care to watch the old man anymore, or they knew no one would try to kill a man who had little purpose now. He assumed it was the latter.

So, needless to say, it was easy to get into his fathers chambers.  
He was more surprised though to find his father was wide awake. He had himself propped up with pillows, looking out the window as the sun slowly made it's assent.

"Father?"

The old man slowly turned his head to regard the voice. The room was quite dark so it was hard to see his expression, but Ling was sure that for a moment, he looked confused as to who was talking to him.

After a moment though, he simply turned to face the window again. "Didn't think I'd see you again boy." His father stated, not really sounding surprised but not sounding like he really cared either.

"Just had some things to go over with you."

"Oh, do you now?" He asked as he turned to face him again. "And here I thought you were here to rush my demise."

"If you thought I were capable of that, then you wouldn't have thought me weak all these years and given me a better chance at the throne."

"Fair enough. So what do you want then?"

Ling crossed the still vast distance across the room till he reached his fathers bed. He stared at him for a moment before taking a seat on the bed.

"My guard is gone. I thought you were in on it at first but, I'm pretty sure I was wrong there."

"That female of yours huh? You're right, you were wrong. In my state I could care less how you ruin your life." Again he tuned away from Ling, returning his gaze to the outside world. There was a bit more light now, dim as it was, so his fathers features were much more prominent. In only the short time since he had returned to Xing, his father had aged so much. His hair carried not a single streak of black any longer. All of it was a striking white more than gray. His face was etched with wrinkles, and his eyes were dull. If anyone else looked at him they would think the man was blind, but it was just a further sign of his body failing him. It surely wouldn't be long now.

"...why would mother do it? Why did she send her away? I know she and I didn't get along that well either but, was still far better a relationship then with you."

"You never did understand how palace life worked. You always tried to be so much like the people outside the walls." He turned to regard him again, eyes narrowed. "We are far different then the rest of the world Ling, I was hoping one day you'd understand that."

"No father. We are the same. The days of traditions and calling ourselves gods hand on Earth are far gone now. The rest of the modern world is either laughing at us or looking on us in disgust. It's time to move on father. If we don't change with the rest of the world, then they'll only swallow us up whole."

"You're too young to understand the significance of tradition."

"And you're too old to understand change. But I'll let it slide, cause that's not what I asked you."

He sighed. "She wants you to be cold you know?"

"...what?" Ling tilted his head a bit, lifting a brow. He was caught a bit off guard.

"Your mother. She knew the path you were heading down. The pain you were racing towards. She tried to stop it, but when you grew more and more stubborn, well...guess she found this to be the best course."

"My life is my..."

"Your life is never your own. Do you think you're the only on to feel this way boy? Do you think you're the only royal brat to fall in love? It's happened before and every time, it's ended in pain and blood. It's even happened to me..."

"What do you mean...?"

His father sighed deeply, as if a great burden were about to be lifted from his chest. His gaze now fell to his desk across the room where a lone picture stood amongst various little trinkets. "That picture there, bring it."

Confused, Ling got up and did as he was asked, making his way across the room to the desk. He laid a hand on the picture and hesitated a moment before picking it up. He ran his eyes over it before making his way back to his father.  
Probably is a bit hard to see in the dark. Flip a light on and look at it more closely. Again Ling did as he was told, taking a seat on the bed again and flipping the small lamp on. He settled his eyes on the picture again. Two young children were pictured there, maybe about the age of twelve, he couldn't be certain. Royal children tended to not look their age, what with the years of being treated more like an adult than a child, and the constant death threats.  
He assumed the boy in the picture was his father. Surprisingly, he looked an awful lot like Ling did at that age. Well, a lot of his siblings probably looked similar for all he knew, he didn't see most of them at that age and if he did, they had a blade to his throat.

The girl though, he had no idea who she was. She seemed to be a bright happy girl, her hair done up in a bun. Her clothes on the other hand were not that of the palace. It was simple commoner dress. Simple brown top with white pants, servant dress now that he looked more at it. He glanced up at his father, his face asking all the questions he couldn't voice.

His father reached a shaky hand up and took the picture from him, staring at it. "This...is your mother."

"...what?"

"That's right. Your mother was a commoner. A servant here. She carried blood from the old line of rulers, in fact...she was the last to carry it. So despite her common blood, she still earned a certain degree of respect, and they allowed her as a concubine later in life. Only problem was...we fell in love."

Ling shifted a bit in his place, both to get a better look at his fathers face to see if he was lying, and because he suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable having this conversation now.

His father only sighed and set the picture down on the other side of him. "That was a long time ago. I was pressured by the council to take other wives from the other houses as well even though I didn't want to. I did eventually to appease them. But doing so changed everything. A man does feel a bit...powerful, having all those women. I won't lie. It changed me, and it changed your mother. I still cared for her more so I made her my Empress, but that was about the extent of it. Didn't take much after you were born to realize you were different. She wanted to keep you from caring so you wouldn't go through the same thing. Being forced by tradition to be someone you didn't want to be, and throw the one you love away. Guess maybe she felt this was a last resort."

"So she sold her to the Black Market? Come on father. If she really cared that was the last thing she'd do to a person."

"Like I said, we both changed. She probably could care less what happens to her. You are her priority."

"My life is mine dammit!" He got up, putting his hand to his chest to emphasize his next points. "I am not about to let anyone else dictate my life! I've been hearing this all my life! Do this, don't do that! Don't slouch, you're a prince not commoner garbage! Well from what you say I am part of that 'commoner garbage'! And you know what? I'm proud of it. Maybe that is why I'm different! I have my own ideas of how I'm running things, and of how I run my life! And all this...is going to end. I'm going to get Lan Fan back, and I'll take my place on the throne. And then...no matter how many people hate what I do next, I'll still do it. I'm saving this country from itself."

His father chuckled a bit, which only caused him to go into a massive coughing fit. He put his hand to his mouth and coughed a bit more, spewing blood all over it. "...well...whatever you do...I won't be here to see it. So at least I don't have to live through the hell you cause..."

"...the hell I cause...and the freedom that eventually comes. Dark and light are not in existence without the other...it'll always shift back and forth. But I'm going to let light win for a while at least." He softened his gaze a bit and grabbed a handkerchief from the bed stand and handed it to his father. "For all you know...when you finally find peace again, might become more your old self. You might even be proud of me."

"Only time can tell Ling. In the meantime, how are you going to do it? The second you're gone the jackals will move in."

"Got that covered already. And to keep my mother out of things, I'm hiding my departure behind going on an excursion to look over the rest of my country."

"Your country? Still mine till I kick it."

"May as well already say you have."

"You pride yourself in not being like the others but you sound like them sometimes."

"Have to wear a mask to survive."

His father only nodded slightly and used the handkerchief to wipe the blood from his face and hand. He looked much paler than only moments before and Ling couldn't help but think he wouldn't last the day even. But even in that, Ling could see a sort of peace cross his face, his eyes even softened a bit as he looked at his son.

"...maybe you can do what I couldn't...I'll have my personal guard help while your away as well. No one will steal the throne from you. But how will you find her?"

"...using some underground sources..." He said as he diverted his gaze a bit.

"Heh. Dance with the demons if that what it takes to get to the devil. Age old tactic. Your best chance is to head to the far North. They have a huge base up that way where they ready 'products' for sale."

"Figured you'd know that..."

His father ignored his comment and kept on. "You should get a hold of Mei before heading up there. She might be able to help you."

"I don't think she still likes Lan Fan all that much..."

"I'm sure things are a bit different now. Besides, you're going to need more at your disposal than just what you have. She may have connections up there, even if she is just a child. Get a hold of her."

"If that's what it takes...then I will. Might have to call in a few more favors as well..."

"Do what you need to. I'll try to keep your mother busy as long as my body holds out. I doubt she'll believe your story, so you best get yourself ready. When are you heading out?"

"This evening. It'd be sooner but, we all need time to get ourselves ready. Not gonna be easy to just walk in and out."

His father nodded slowly and turned back to the window. The sun had finally made it's appearance and the land was being washed with it's glow. "Get going then."

Ling only nodded and, without another word, made his way out of his fathers room.

The palace was starting to come to life and servants were already crawling about everywhere doing their morning tasks.  
He could see a group of guards moving towards him and knew full well what was coming next. The questions would come pouring out along with all the false concern for his safety. This was the first time in his life he would actually admit he missed Fu's response of charging up and cuffing him over the head. Days long gone that would never again return.

So instead he let them go on and on as he made his way back to his room. There was no use in making any sort of a defense for himself. He had far more important things to concern himself with.

And that concern sat miles and miles away in a lonely cell. Lan Fan was again curled up in a tight ball, face buried between her knees. Her 'breaking in' sessions had recently begun. She tried her best to stay as stubborn as she was known to be but, even she could already feel her facade cracking. There were others that had gone through that same thing with her that day. All got far less than her for obvious reasons. She tried to stay strong, unmoving in any way. And that action just caused the beatings to be more massive. She had at first thought they'd be more cautious with her. She knew full well what future was meant for her so ruining the merchandise was not an option. But as time went on she knew they would not be gentle in any way. She was a trained killer, they could not afford to be gentle. They had to completely break her. And to do so would include a massive amount of time doing so. And since they had to take all that time, there would still be time for her to heal up before her inevitable sale. Her beatings were far worse compared to the others around her, but they were also getting more permanent injuries compared to her. And more abusive tortures. She could see many around her having their nails ripped off with pliers, some of the males had even been castrated in plain sight. Apparently people still called for Eunuch's in this world, which was surprising because even the palace didn't use them much any more. But through all of this, she could still see people giving her approving looks out of the corners of her eyes. They saw her bravery and commended her for it.

...if they could only see her now, curled up in a dirty ball of blood and various mess from the cell, crying softly to herself.

When she became a guard, she knew full well the types of consequences she would have to face, the various fates that might and probably would befall her. But she never once thought of anything like this. And none of this might have even been possible if she hadn't been considered a threat. It didn't take long to figure out her reasons for being here. Someone in the palace, likely the Emperor or Empress...or both, had clearly seen the very thing she was trying to hide and subsequently decided to get rid of her. And this was the worst possible way to do so, the greatest punishment for not knowing ones place. Her Grandfather had even warned her against it, though she adamantly denied such a thing. Foolish really, she knew her Grandfather of all people could see right through her. Perhaps she really should have done a better job of hiding it.

She pulled her head up a bit and rubbed her eyes. Her faith was slowly ebbing away as she was starting to wonder if Ling would find her. If his parents had done it, there's no way they'd send her where Ling would be able to find her, or at least where he'd be able to find her in time.  
She turned a bit and slammed her fist into the wall. On impact she could feel a few of the bones shattering a bit and a loud crack emanated through the cell. She only allowed herself a minor squeak in response as she pulled her hand back and cradled it under one of her legs.

"...yeah, there you go...start damaging yourself now..." She muttered to herself. She grunted a bit, both frustrated at her situation and at herself. She knew regardless of the situation, Ling was going to do everything he could to find her. So for now, she was going to have to hold out as long as she could. She would force herself to keep fighting on to buy him and herself, some time. So she was going to have to suck it up and for all intensive purposes, be a major bitch.

"Hey! Hey, anyone out there!?" The response she got was a kick to the cell door and a gruff, 'shut the fuck up!' But she didn't give up.

"Hey! When do you plan on giving me my water huh? I haven't had any yet today!"

"Shut up! After your little stunt today you think we're giving you any?"

"Well I assume you need me in relatively good condition don't you? And you're going to deny me substinense? How is that productive to you lot!?"

"I said shut up!"

"Do you want me to start drinking my own pee here!? I'm sure that will go over really well for my health!" ...~Did I seriously just say that...?~ She thought to herself.

She could hear another voice on the other side of the door, so there was another guard. Probably a good idea considering their prisoner, and neither of them sounded like that Niu guy so she supposed she should be grateful for that.

"Fine! I'll give you your damn water if you shut up!"

"Thank you!" She grinned to herself. She knew she was going to pay massively for her attitude but she needed to keep it up. Plus she couldn't deny she was having a bit of fun at her tormentors expense.

The door flew open with a bang as it slammed into the back wall. As she assumed the man looked far from amused. He stood there glaring at her a moment, well, with what glaring he could manage with one eye. He had a patch over his left eye and a massive burn mark on that side of his face, which pretty much gave relevance to her assumption that his eye was indeed gone. He was covered from head to toe in all black otherwise, and wisely wore no weapons. But she had no doubt he was dangerous. She'd already proven earlier she was dangerous even with restraints, so there was no way they'd take risks now.

After a bit of a stare down session, he set the bucket he was holding down and slid it across the floor with his foot, not daring to move any closer. She had to catch it with her feet to prevent it from toppling over and spilling it. Yes she had done this to annoy him, but that in no way meant she wasn't extremely thirsty.

"There's your damn water, now shut up!" He turned around and headed back out, slamming the door behind him.  
She could hear him cussing to his other buddy and couldn't help but giggle when he said she was as bad as his wife.

She was probably quite insane to be taking this course of action but, after years of guarding a prince that had a tendency not to listen to anyone...anyone would go a bit mad. She used her feet to pull the bucket closer and, with a hiss of pain, grabbed it with her hand and pulled the metal bucket up to take huge gulps from. She stopped just before swallowing at one point and took in what she was holding. Maybe the guy wasn't so smart after all. A metal bucket? Really?  
She set it down at her side and looked it over, turning it around a bit and inspecting every inch of it. It was pretty dented up but otherwise intact. She might have been able to do more with it if she had possession of both arms but, that wasn't an option. But she did catch one break. The metal handle was still on the bucket and after yeas of use, it was weak at it's connection points.

She looked up at the door for a moment before faking a coughing fit, moving the bucket back between her feet to hold, while using her hand to yank at the handle till it finally snapped off. She was quick to hide it behind her back before the guard looked in through the barred window.

"Whats wrong with you now?"

"Take it easy, just drank too fast is all."

"Tch. Don't drown yourself you dumb woman."

"...show you dumb once I'm out of here." She mumbled to herself. As he turned away again, she reached behind her and found the bit of metal again. She glanced around the cell and tried to find somewhere in her reach to hide it till she found the right moment to use it. She did manage to find a bit of crumbled block just in her reach at the bottom of the wall and carefully worked it loose, slipping the metal inside. She quickly replaced the block and went back to drinking more water. She needed to bide her time. She still had no clue to the layout of this place so any escape attempt now would be futile. She knew there had to be clues laying about and the next time they took her from her cell, she would take in everything she saw. She had no idea how long it would take Ling, so she had to have this backup plan in mind. Because if he took too long, she would have to act before they moved her. But she just hoped he'd make it in time. Then she'd smack him for being reckless and hug him for coming for her.

Once the sun lowered below the horizon and the world began to be quenched in shadow, Ling slipped out of the palace. It was a huge gamble, leaving like this. He could only hope his men and his fathers could keep things in control till he returned. That's really all he could do on that end.  
In the meantime, he had plotted out his route along the information his father had given and sent a message ahead to Mei, asking her to meet him in a village twenty miles South of their apparent destination. He would have chosen closer but their destination was well out of her families range, and he wanted to meet up with her where they could both feel comfortable and a bit safer. Assuming she would show up anyway. Promising to take her family under his wing with the other families in no way meant she had to bend to his every beck and call. But he hoped she would, he needed that extra pull.

He met up with his little group outside The Roc bar and they headed straight out without saying a word. It was better not to talk about anything till they were well outside of the city limits.  
But once they were a safe distance away, they stopped to go over what information Ling had managed to get.

"And you came up with this how?" Li asked, quirking a brow. The man was a bit temperamental as he still had a hangover from the previous nights events. So any thing that seemed off was ringing danger bells for him more now then they would have the previous night.

"I managed to find you guys didn't I? Not hard to think I'm pretty good at finding people to dig information out of is it?"

"Is it trustworthy though?" Qiao asked. She in no way had changed and was still considerably weary around Ling. Woman's intuition he assumed. He'd have to be careful around her if he wanted to keep his secret hidden. Or maybe...could she be a chi reader?

Ling looked at her a moment, trying to make it look like he was assessing her trustworthiness as much as she was assessing his. Which wasn't entirely a lie, he was assessing, just assessing if his hand was already blown. But after reading the dragons path a bit, he found no reason to believe she was a chi reader, unless she was good at hiding it. So instead he dropped it.

"You tell me." He said at last. "You would know your own kind best wouldn't you?"

"Do not lump us in with their kind! We use people for gain yes, but not at the expense of their lives!" Qiao bit back. It was now that Ling realized, this woman was made more terrifying by the lack of light. He really didn't like her at all to be honest and only now realized he hadn't really taken the time to look at her much when he was talking to her the night before. She was one of those pretty but tough looking girls. The kind who could flash you a smile one moment and break you in half the next. And he could tell she was very well capable of that. She had muscle to her, not scary muscle, but muscle enough. And when she was angry he swore her eyes glowed more in the dimmed light. Avoid the snapping dragon side, yup, surely noted.

"...right. I won't then. Just don't eat me..." He hesitantly quipped.

"Enough Qiao. He's no one to suspect I guess. He just wants his friend back and if he's digging so far into the underworld, he has to be desperate...and a damn fool. So moving on then, why are we stopping twenty miles before?"

"My little sister lives up that way. Her family would know more about the area than me, and I need to talk to her...if she shows up anyway..."

"Your sister lives that far away from you?" The suspicion was still in Qiao's voice, along with a growl that just screamed death forthcoming.

"Yes. You have heard of families splitting up haven't you? Not at all that uncommon. It was just...that bad of a split that they needed that much space between us." He waited quietly for a moment to see if she'd buy the lie. She only huffed and turned away. About the best yes he was going to get.  
Right. So we stop at...Suching then right? Li asked.

"Right. But we have to be there by the end of the week. That's the allotted time I put down."

"You a slave driver or something?" Qiao growled.

Ling flinched at that a bit. He in no way wanted to be associated with such a word even if it may have just been a simple smack at his ego. "No. I just want to find her before it's too late for her. You would have done the same for your friend if you would have gotten the chance wouldn't you have?"

"Don't you dare even speak of her you squinty eyed bastard!"

"That's calling the kettle black isn't it!? Least I can open my eyes!"

"Alright enough! For gods sake for someone who wants to get moving you waste enough time. So how bought for the extent of this journey, you two keep the hell away from each other hm?" Li literally had to get between the two as he was actually quite in fear for Ling's safety. He was sure she could break the beanpole in half pretty easily. If he only knew.

Ling only backed up and started packing his stuff away. "Yeah, you're right. We need to get going. I caused her enough trouble in this life, not gonna cause her this sort of grief."

Li gave him a confused look and was about to ask him how exactly this was his fault, but Ling had already thrown his pack back over his shoulder and was moving away from them.

"...you sure about this bro? What if we're biting off more than we can chew here?"

"No one else deserves this fate. We can work at getting her back, and take the whole damn place down in one massive swoop. We have to try." She nodded in agreement at last as she followed Ling and her brother's little band off into the unknown.


	3. Chapter 3

The door burst open, interrupting the almost former Emperor from his; for once, restful sleep. He slowly opened his eyes and diverted them over to the door ;where the Empress was now slamming it shut. It took no stretch of the mind to know exactly what she was on about.  
She moved across the room with quite obvious angry distress, and sat down at the chair at his desk. For the most part she just went on mumbling and complaining to herself like she had forgotten this was his room, and that he wasn't there which he quite obviously was.

"...Chunhua." He finally addressed the Empress.

She turned her head quickly towards him, the angry fires practically jumping from her eyes. "He's wandered off again!"

"And who would that be pray tell?"

"Don't play smug with me! How can you not know who!?"

He let out an irritated sigh. He remembered the days when she would just quietly address him, not scream at the top of her lungs. God how he missed those days. Despite the reputation he gained, he was never forceful with the women whose company he had to keep, and he never threatened them or raised his voice at them. But out of tradition for their position, they tended to stay docile around him, as per how things in the court went. So he wasn't used to this bombardment she constantly gave now that he was bed ridden.

"I know very well who you're talking about yes. You don't have to scream and please would you not? I'm a bit sensitive now if you haven't noticed. And you know damn well he is a responsible man under all that, he's just doing what he feels he needs to."

"You can't possibly think I buy that whole act of his about...taking in the people of his future rule?"

Again he sighed. "No of course not. And I knew you wouldn't. But there's something that, despite what we feel, we have to accept."

"And what's that?"

"I'm old and dying, he's never listened to you in the first place...and he's not us. At least...he's not who we are now. There was a time you would have praised this action in him."

"That was long ago."

"Yes, it was." He said as he forced himself up to a sitting position. This small action was getting harder and harder to do with each day, and his arms could barely hold his weight anymore. Chunhua almost got up to help him but stilled herself. "I remember when that boy was born. Of everything you had, of everything I gave you; the gold, the beautiful clothing...he was what you treasured most. The look you gave him that day...was a look I hadn't seen in years and haven't seen since. You and I both changed...and tradition made us make him do the same. But he was stronger than us. He said no."

"...I don't want him to feel that pain...that...feeling of betrayal." Her eyes grew hard as she looked at him. She did as she was told she had to over all these years. Treat him as a superior. Even in friendly banter she had to show a certain level of respect, all the women did. But there was one thing despite all that that still hurt her, and he knew exactly what that was. "...you told me you loved me...only me. And then...you took all those women in anyway..."

"You knew the reasons. There was no way to get around it then, unlike the possibility that exists now. And you had no right to send that girl away regardless. I have never in my life pulled rank on you so to speak...but while I still breathe, who goes and who stays is my decision. That boy...can do what we were too weak to. And neither of us have the right to stand in his way. Not anymore. Yes, he's going to get her, like I'm sure you knew he would. But he wouldn't have to if you hadn't sent her away. You put him in more danger than he initially would have been..."

She got up now, the fire in her eyes growing to what one would see as massive walls of flames. "You're trying to blame this on me!? This is not my fault!"

Instead of shouting back at her, he shifted himself and flung his legs over the side of the bed, making an effort to get up.

"...what are you doing? Don't strain yourself."

He only shrugged her off and, with great effort, pushed himself to his feet. He barely made any ground though as his legs gave out and he had to grab one of the bed banisters to hold himself up. Chunhua rushed over to aid him, regardless of her anger. She took hold of one of his arms and did her best to hold him up.  
He, for the first time in ages, flashed a smile at her.

"...there you are. I haven't seen this side of you since we were young..."

"...Shaoqing..."

"Please...help me over to the mirror...I need to show you something..."

"But..."

"Please?"

Hesitantly, she did so, helping him across a rather considerate distance to a corner of the room. He stood with her in front of the mirror, putting one arm up to prop himself on a table next to it.

"Now...look. Look closely in the mirror..."

Confused, she did as he said, taking in both their appearances. He was only a year older than her, but his illness had caused him to age drastically. He hardly looked anything of his former self and even less like a human come to think of it. He was a pained soul trapped in a failing body.  
She on the other hand, though middle aged, looked much better off. She hardly even showed any of her age between the various creams and makeup used to cover her features, and the dye used to keep her hair that Xingese raven black. She wore an elegant red silken robe with beautiful features stitched in with bright golden silken threads. Jade earrings dangled from her earlobes and her hair was put up high in an empresses crown. She looked every bit the part of a royal woman.

"...what am I looking for?" She asked at last.

Shaoqing slowly pulled away from her, making his way slowly and agonizingly over to the bed again. She made to follow him but he stilled her with an upraised hand. He grabbed the picture he had showed Ling earlier and made his way back over, stumbling the whole way. By the time he reached her again he was breathing heavily and had to lean hard on the table by the mirror.

"Shaoqing..." She took hold of his arm again, afraid he may collapse to the floor. "Let me get a servant, you have to get back in bed..."

"Not yet...I'm not done yet...look at this." He handed her the picture and let her take it in for a moment. "Now...look back in the mirror..."

"..." Still confused, she did what she was told again, looking over her features again.

"Now...I want you to tell me something...after looking at the picture...and our reflections...tell me who the hell they are...because all I see now are strangers..."

She nearly dropped the picture when she took in what he was saying. There wasn't one bit of them that were those children of long ago. They had both grown cold, cold and callous and for the most part, uncaring. Even she, who had for so long did everything she could to not forget where she came from. Yet here she stood, covered from head to toe in finery and paints to deceive people. There wasn't one part of her that resembled that little girl anymore. Not one part of her that even remembered what it was like to live that life before this. The person in the mirror...both people, were a lie.

"And this...my love...is what we're trying to turn Ling into..."

"...my god..."

"...he's going after the woman he loves...we need to let him...and we need to protect his position till he returns...I want him to have what we denied ourselves..."

She turned to look at him, eyes glossy with UN-shed tears. "I didn't mean...to hurt him..."

"I know. I told him that. At least we...realized it before it was too late. I made up with him before he left...promised to keep his role safe. But I can't do anything else for him. I'll be gone before he returns...but you have time. Show him what it's really like to have a parents love...he'll need that for his own future."

"..." She set the picture down on the table he still leaned on, observing it again for a moment before giving him a careful embrace. "...we still need to catch up...before the gods take you from me as well..."

He smiled again, this time warm and soft, like the smile from his younger days. "That we do, and we shall."

At last she smiled too, allowing the tears to fall. She then escorted him back to his bed, foregoing any servant's help. The rest of this day need only involve them.

The grating sounds of the UN-oiled hinges of the door woke Lan Fan from what slumber she had managed. She looked up to see one of the guards from earlier stepping into the cell, chains in hand. Looks like it was that time again. She was partially enjoying this little game she had started with them. Partially, because she didn't care much for, you know, the whole torture aspect that came with it. But giving them all a day of living hell made up for some of it anyway.

These guards were at least grateful because she tended to stay quiet till she was taken to the 'Breaking Chambers'. They didn't have to stay to babysit her and so weren't subject to her wiles. They also, in turn, hated the men that were handed the job of 'breaking' her. So her little ploys she liked to hit them with amused them greatly and caused them to treat her just a bit more nicely than they had before. So in turn, she afforded them a little less hell, mostly because she saw this as another possible weapon she could use later. It was possible to, over time, gain some sympathy from these two men, they could aid in her escape if need be. So it was best to keep up her light hearted relationship with the two.  
So she didn't struggle as he UN-cuffed her from the wall and put her in these new restraints. She was cuffed at each limb, including her neck, to limit movement as much as possible. After all she need only a small bit of freedom to become deadly dangerous.

She was then lead out of the cell and down the hall by the same guard while the other locked up the cell, joining them after. They walked in complete silence for a while before Lan Fan struck up a conversation about the weather. This had been another one of their easy exchanges as it became an inside joke, since she quite obviously could not see what the weather was.  
On some occasions they actually would tell her what it was like. At first it had been done as another form of torture for her, but lately it had just become something they just wanted to inform her. Almost like a way of saying the world was still turning, she wasn't dead yet. She came to appreciate that over time.  
But now, the only two she allowed herself to associate with, were leaving her in a medium sized room with her tormentors. Both only quickly made their way out of the room, like looking back would cause them to second guess themselves.

So now, she turned to regard the two other men that she was forced to see on a daily basis. One was a younger man, maybe no older than her, dressed in rather ragged clothing. Considering the task they were employed to do, she could see why. His other features for the most part had been hard to see the first few times she came to this room. But since they had added a little more lighting, she could see it better. Was nothing to be really excited about anyway, if that was the proper term for it. He had a rather generic Xingese face, typical black eyes, short cropped hair. Nothing special really.

The other man though, he was a piece of work and rather frightening to her really. He was a larger man...larger in weight. Like one of those guards one would explain was in some torture chamber deep in the bowls of castles in stories of old. She never thought they really existed. But, they apparently did, and they were about as scary as the stories liked to say. This one especially. He was bald...again typical of the stories, he wore the same ragged clothes as his counterpart, only he had the sleeves torn off at the shoulder. He had leather guards on his wrists that showed various signs of wear and tear, along with many suspicious looking gouges...like teeth marks. His face though, was the one thing she always tried to avoid looking at. He had a thin mustache and a beard that tapered to a point at about the start of his massive belly. But that wasn't what she was avoiding, it was that mouth. Nearly every tooth in his mouth was gone and as far as she had seen, and for obvious reasons, he had to drink his food. So various types of foods had to be ground up for him...including what seemed to be a favorite of his. Pig. And he seemed to have every part of the creature ground up which emitted a rather stomach churning smell when it was all ground together. And she knew this because they liked to have their meals in front of her. Another form of torture.  
And she also had to remember that these guys would sit down and eat...with their victim bleeding in the room mere feet from them. These two were not human beings by any stretch of the word. In fact, she couldn't come up with any existing word to describe the vileness of these two. And she was trapped with them for god knows how long. They had a tendency to vary how long they 'worked her in' every day. It was their own little game they played to even out the one she played on them every day.

The bigger one moved towards her now, yanking on the restraints at her neck and dragging her over to a flat board. She knew this one all too well because up till her early teen years, it was still used in the bowls of the Palace. The water board. It looked less dangerous than it was and most people would scoff at it's description. But that's only because they never saw it in action. It was a long drawn out torture that made a person go mad, she knew this personally, as she had been forced to watch on a few occasions. She cringed as her restraints were UN-done and she was tossed down and restrained on the table instead. There wasn't much to this torture really and it was easy to go through each movement in her mind before he did them. Sometimes it was far more terrible knowing what was coming than what wasn't. What she wasn't sure of was why they picked this torture first. It was the least hands on. Her best guess was there would be more than her in the room today. And she was proven right moments later as the door flew open and a guard dragged a struggling boy in. He couldn't have been more than ten but he was giving the guard hell.

For a moment she forgot her own hell and the water slowly dripping on her head as she realized she recognized the boy. He was from one of the royal houses, though which one she couldn't recall. She watched as they grabbed him and strapped him onto a table on the other side of the room while the guard made a hasty exit.  
The younger of the two turned a wheel, bringing the table to a standing position. The boy still struggled, throwing silent curses at the two. It was only now that Lan Fan took into account the dry blood at his chin and the literal empty threats coming from him. His tongue had been cut out.

"...he's just a child! What the hell did you do to him!?"

"Quiet you! We got no orders that says we can't do that to you too! And we're liable to if you don't shut your trap!" The larger man gruffly yelled. That, of course, didn't deter her.

"What can a child do to you!? You take a child's insults that seriously that you have to tear his tongue out!? Are you that incapable of handling criticism!?"

"I said shut it woman!"

"Make me!"

"Come on! I know you've been looking for a reason to smack me up good! Man your size can't possibly give a damn about threats from your boss! So come on! Shut me up! Just leave the boy alone!"

"I said shut it!" He crossed the room at a rather quick pace considering his size and raised his hand, bringing it down but stopping just before her face.

"...just like I thought...no balls to speak of. Just as much a pawn to your boss as anyone here."

"Oi! Leave her be. We gotta work the kid in. Besides, you know damn well what'll happen if you lay more a hand on her than you're allowed. You'll never see the light of day again. Now get back over here."

The larger man eyed her up a minute longer, hand still held where it stopped just before her cheek, before he turned and made his way back to the younger man.

"And you watch your mouth too boy. I'm your senior, don't be telling me what to do."

"Yeah well, I'm gonna get it too if you fuck things up, so I have a stake in this too."

The larger man only grunted as he walked over to a wheel cart and grabbed a pair of very rusty looking pliers. It was now that Lan Fan was sadly glad the boy couldn't make a sound, but she could see him squirm through the pain. And she could see little flecks of off white as the boys finger nails were torn from his fingers, falling to the floor.  
She closed her eyes and swallowed hard, feeling bile rising in her throat. At this rate she'd throw up and choke on her own vomit before the drops of water made her lose her mind.

Wasn't long though before the door opened again and a different guard came in. He said a few stern words to the two men before removing the boys restraints and taking him out. It became pretty obvious that the boy was not supposed to be scheduled for that sort of torture, as the guard made a rather threatening comment as he left. Lan Fan was relieved for the boy, for now anyway. God only knew why he was plucked from the hell he was in. And now, all attention was back on her. The larger man removed her from the water board, to her relief. Her head was starting to feel the effects, both mentally and physically. But this only meant the more painful tortures awaited her. And the grin on their faces...wasn't giving her much hope for her future.

Ling and the others had been traveling most the day and made little attempts to stop for a rest, much to the others discontent. They understood his rush, but still felt like they'd signed on with a madman.

"Seriously Ling, we need to stop." Li finally spoke up. "You're gonna run us all into the ground and what good would that be for your friend?"

Ling turned his head slightly, making an attempt to look over his shoulder, but it was a half assed attempt and he didn't slow up one bit. Not right away anyway. But eventually he did stop, staring up at the sky. They had grown dark and threatening and at any moment he knew they would let loose with torrents of rain. What a time to have this happen, during the monsoon season. He could not afford to be slowed up in any way but there would be no way to travel with the floods that would soon follow.

"...alright. There's a village up ahead. We should stop there and rest a bit. Not going to be able to travel in this rain anyway."

"First logical thing you said this whole time." Qiao bit back.

Ling turned quickly and started to stalk towards her, which managed to actually elicit a look of surprise from her. But Li, again, was able to get between the two.

"We're all tired and a little bit stressed. I know you more so. So we're all liable to hot heads and words that come out before thinking. But we can't afford to let it slow us up right? This rains gonna put us off enough, don't make it worse with squabbling."

"Keep your sister on a leash then." He said it to Li but glared at Qiao the whole time. He knew he wasn't being himself but how could he be? He knew he was on limited time and every second was a second too long. Though he had to agree with Li, he wasn't helping any by fighting with her. So he backed down and turned again, making his way towards the village.

Li turned on his sister though while the others moved on ahead, following Ling. He was having about enough of her as Ling was.

"Look, I know you don't like the guy, you don't have to. But your little issues need to end now. I don't want to lose these guys, they're all gonna pay for what they did. Now this guy, as shady as it may seem, knows more then we do right now and we need him. So just shut up, swallow your pride, and follow his damn lead. Cause I swear to god, if you keep this up, I'll leave you in the next damn village. Got it?"

"..."

"Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Good. Now get moving, and no more bullshit."

She made no more protests and followed behind quietly.

They all made it to the village just as the rains fell from the sky. There hadn't been much of a lead in, just a flash of lightening, a loud thunder crack, and then the heavens just let loose. So despite being mere feet from the Inn Ling had tracked down, they were already drenched as they entered.  
He knew this whole trip he was risking questions he couldn't answer, and right now he was risking it even more as he paid for all their rooms. He knew regardless of what they said, they were suspicious of him, but they needed a roof over their heads in this kind of rain. So he risked it and bought the rooms. He just made sure to be off to his own before any of them had the time to ask him.

But hours later, he heard the dreaded knock anyway. He scowled and made his way over to answer it. Well, at least it was Li, he might get away with things a bit here. He let him in and, after being sure none of his other party followed him, he shut the door. He flopped back down on the bed as Li took a seat in a chair in the corner.

"So...checked up on the weather reports a bit."

"And?"

"Northern mountains are already flooded bad. And the path to where your sisters meeting us is blocked off by a landslide. We have to find a path around...gonna loose a few days..."

"Dammit!" Ling shifted and punched the mattress in frustration. "Why can't I catch a break here!?"

"Calm down Ling. If we're right and the place is that far to the North, they ain't any better off then. They ain't gonna be able to move anyone till this monsoon lets up, and that ain't anytime soon. If anything this turned out to be a good thing. We'll be able to get moving long before them and we have more time to plan. Being patient is our only issue. Can you manage to sit still that long?"

"What do you think?"

Li leaned forward in the chair, looking him dead in the eyes. "Ling, if you go rushing into this, you could get one or both of you killed. Maybe even all of this. I get your feelings, I do. But it ain't gonna help any."

"How do you know how I feel? How can you even begin to know how I feel? I..."

"You love her, I get it. I loved Song too."

"Song? Oh...your...?"

"Yeah, our friend." He shifted, leaning back in the chair again. "It's hard, trying to not think about the things they could be going through. Even harder to watch them if they manage to return. We all watched her deteriorate slowly day by day...but I saw it more. I was with her more. And even though she trusted us...me...there was still nothing I could do. How do you comfort someone when you can't even touch them? Without...without them flinching away like some abused animal? When...words are just...just aren't enough? I watched her waste away. I watched her die...I couldn't get to her in time to stop her...I...so I do get what you're going through. I just hope, you never have to go through what I had to. Some times things that get broken...can't be fixed...and that's the most tragic thing of all. Especially when it's someone else that caused it all..."

"...I'm sorry Li..."

Li only shook his head, standing up. "She's at peace now...nothing more to really do about it...but find the asshole that did it...and make him pay slowly."

"What do I do if...if...it ends up coming to that..."

...everyone acts differently to things like this...you know her best...you do everything and anything you can...don't you dare let her go...don't you dare let her shatter...some people can be brought back from the brink...but not if you don't try..." Li said nothing more as he left the room.

Ling on the other hand had a mind that was racing out of control. He hadn't even taken the time to think of all the other what if's. The other possibilities they might have to face. Even someone as strong as Lan Fan could break, he'd already seen it happen before. It took her forever to get back to herself after Fu passed. What would this do to her?  
Growling, he got up and walked over to the window, staring out. He leaned his arm on the frame and settled his head on it, watching as the rain ran down the window. Watched as it pooled outside, like the entirety of the sky was doing what he couldn't allow himself to. He felt that if he broke now he would lose his center, his focus, and he couldn't afford that. Or maybe he was just being stupid thinking that, and most likely he was. But he didn't want to risk anything right now. So, all he could do now, is hope the rain would stop soon and long enough to get to Mei.


	4. Chapter 4

I am so sorry it took so long to upload here. I'm way ahead of this chapter by now and have those uploaded elsewhere but I've just been having so much trouble getting my uploads to work properly here that I've avoided it for now. And then my old computer decided to kick the bucket too so...took longer still. I do apologize. Hopefully I have it worked out now.

Chapter 4

Ling watched out the window from his room at the Inn they were staying at. They had been in that town for nearly two days now and the Monsoon showed little sign of letting up.  
People had for the most part just hunkered down to wait it out but, the nearby river had long since rose over flood crest and was starting to flow over it's banks. So now people were rushing about trying their best to stem the rivers flooding progress, trying to keep the water at bay as long as they could. Ling, being the man that he was and this being his people to watch over, wasn't about to sit around and let them struggle like this. So making up his mind, he quickly got up and headed out of his room, rushing down the hall.  
He managed some rain gear from the staff at the Inn and ran out into the raging storm.

Almost as soon as he got passed the precipice, the wind hit him, trying to shove him back the way he came. But he refused it's push as best he could and struggled towards the townspeople that were desperately doing their best to save their town.  
He said nothing as he reached them, and just began to pile up sandbags where he could, only barely noticing the grateful looks on their faces. He was just one extra man out there, but even one extra was welcome help. That just meant they could go that little bit faster.

He kept at it for what seemed like hours, but in actuality was only about half an hour. In that amount of time they had slowed the rivers progression, but not by much. With each sandbag they laid down, the rough waters battered at it, eventually causing some of them to tear open. It was really beginning to look like they were fighting a losing battle. Mumbles had already started passing through the group about getting everyone in town to higher ground as soon as they could.  
But Ling knew how difficult that would be. It wasn't a huge town but it wasn't a small one either. Trying to get everyone ready and moving would take more time than they had. And the strong winds and heavy rains would slow their progress even more. He knew if that option came to be, people would have to stay behind and continue to lay out sandbags just to give them time to escape. And that would more than likely cost those individuals their lives.  
They needed more hands out here, that's what they needed. Just a small group more would be enough to get the sandbags high enough to stave off the river for a bit longer. Maybe long enough for the storm to lessen, or at best, pass altogether.

And it was with this thought in mind, that Ling noticed a different chi signature next to him. He only glanced slightly to his left to notice someone in the same rain gear next to him. And as the man looked up, Ling's face scrunched up in confusion.  
Li was next to him, giving him a wide grin as he grabbed sandbags and began piling them.  
Ling stood, floored for a few moments before yelling over the wind at him.

"What are you doing!?"

"Helping! What's it look like!?"

"You...didn't think you would...jump in like this!"

"What kind of a man do you think I am really Ling!? I'm not a heartless monster! Anyway, this river goes then we all die!"

Ling only nodded at that. Li knew what others in the town might soon come to realize themselves. That unless they got out there and helped, they didn't have a chance.

And in fact, not long after, more and more people did start to join the group on the rivers banks, passing bags to be piled as quickly as they could get them filled. In fact the only ones not outside now were the children and the elderly. But even they were busy. They were preparing warm drinks and soups for anyone that needed to duck out for a break. The women on the other hand were busy filling the sand bags a ways back from the rivers edge. Including Li's sister, to Ling's surprise.  
Everyone in town was doing something, no one was idle.

After a few hours of battling, they had managed to build the piles high enough to hold the river off, for now anyway. While further down the river, both to the North and South of it, people had busied themselves digging trenches off the river, trying to divert some of the waters flow. They knew they had to make some sort of sacrifice to save the people of the town so, a field was chosen to let the water flow into. Effectively flooding and drowning what crop remained there. A necessary sacrifice. The town was large enough that the loss of one field wouldn't doom them. And everyone involved already vowed to help the family who owned the field, out as much as possible for the coming season.

So for now, the town was safe. Other than a few people who took shifts to keep an eye on the river, everyone else returned indoors.  
Li and Ling were both more than grateful to get some soup and warm drink in them. Unlike the others, neither of them had quit since they had went out there. Both were exhausted, soaked, and frozen to the bone. They shivered immensely as they tried to spoon the soup to their mouths without spilling any of it.

Upon seeing their suffering, one of the Inn owners; a nice elderly man, lead them to the kitchen to let them settle around the fire.

Despite the situation they were in, Ling couldn't help but frown. He never realized just how much in the past some of these people still lived. These kind people didn't even have a proper stove, they still used a fire pit to cook with. Granted, Ling had to admit the food tasted much better cooked this way, everything tasted natural. But he couldn't help thinking how much work it must be. Especially when running a business.  
They had electricity, yes. That wasn't the issue. Stoves just cost so much that Ling doubted even if they saved for years, that they'd ever afford to be able to buy one.

He was pulled from his dreary thoughts as Li nudged him slightly in the arm. Ling turned to look at him, teeth still chattering but much more slowed than earlier.

"You ok Ling?" He asked, true worry written on his face.

"...yeah. Just...thinking."

"Yeah, I got that. But bout what?"

"How little these people have. Amenities aside...they don't even have enough to afford better weather equipment in this town. That river could have been more properly handled if they had the means to build a flood break quickly enough..."

"That's the world we live in Ling." Li said as he paused for a moment to drink the remaining liquid from his soup. "Palace don't care about the little people. And definitely not the small towns. They're good for taxes and farming, that's it. They take their money and most their food and then forget about them till the next harvest season."

"...I'm sure not everyone in the Palace is like that..."

"Hell have you been man? Ain't no royalty good."

Ling looked at him for a moment before finishing off his own soup and standing up, silently making his way over to the sink to deposit his bowl.

"...you can't honestly tell me you think there's some good in that Palace Ling..."

"You don't know for sure that there isn't Li. Worlds changing. If we don't change with it we fall behind...risk getting used by everyone around us."

"Well go petition to the Palace then, cause I assure you ain't no one gonna change the way things are run."

Ling was starting to boil inside a bit, getting annoyed with Li's conjecture. But really, he had no right to be angry with him. How could Li know if there was any good in the Palace? The people of the country weren't even allowed to look at their faces so forget trying to talk with them.  
So instead Ling just sighed, his shoulders dropping a bit.

"...I'm just going to head back to my room for the night. Want to start getting a plan together to gain back the time we lost. Find a quicker route to meet up with my sister."

He started to head out, but heard the rustle as Li stood, and stilled as Li grabbed his wrist. "What's up with you? Why do you want to put any kind of trust in the Palace? Just how delusional can you get?"

"I'm not delusional Li." Ling offered up as he looked over his shoulder. "I just refuse to condemn people I know nothing about."

"Know nothing about? We know everything about them."

"We know everything about the ones that pass down the laws. But the family is big Li. We can never know everything about everyone. And the past has more than proven good can come from that place. So unless everyone of them come out here to stomp their feet on our faces, I'll give some of them the benefit of the doubt." With that Ling yanked his arm away and stalked out of the kitchen, leaving a bewildered Li standing alone.

When he got back to his room, he slammed the door and flopped down on his bed, covering his face with his hands. He'd gotten so upset he nearly showed his hand. God knows what would happen if they found out who he was. He couldn't afford to lose their help right now, he needed them.

Then he dropped his hands to settle on his legs, staring down at them. It only occurred to him now that he was really just using them. He never really even thought once about how they were getting revenge in their own way for their friend, that girl Li had loved. All he thought of was how it at least kept them at his side, kept them willing to help him. Though, he supposed, they were really all just using eachother. Both had their own reasons for doing this but he was sure that once it was said and done, they'd never speak to eachother again.  
Really it was common occurrence, people meeting up like this to help eachother for a bit then disappearing. But for Ling, a man trying so hard to change how things went, it wasn't right. He shouldn't be using them like this.  
He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. He was starting to wonder just how much of Greed had rubbed off on him before he left.

Growling then, he fell back on his bed, hand falling over his face. He was being stupid, he knew it. Yeah, he needed their help, but he in no way didn't care what happened to them. He would surely not let them die or be harmed if he could help it. But it still just...bothered him. What if they died because he got them into this? Or Li's sister got taken or something?  
Growling again as even more frustration racked him, he finally gave in; rolling over to switch the light off. He wasn't getting any proper thinking done tonight. Best to just try and sleep. Try being the opt word.

By the next morning, everyone was up and getting ready to leave. Everyone but Ling that is. He had been awake most the night and so had heard when the rain lessened in the early hours of the morning. He was glad they could probably set off bright and early and try to make up the lost time. Problem was, he wasn't accounting for the cold that was quite obviously coming on. Or at least he hoped it was a cold, the way he was feeling it could be much worse.  
But he didn't get much time to ponder on it, as a rough knock on his door hit his ears like a ton of bricks.

"Oi! Get your ass up so we can get going huh!?"

Qiao...of course it'd be her. Ling grumbled quite loudly, both from irritation and from the fact he was sore all over. From being sick or the work from the night before, he couldn't be sure. Maybe from both.

He grunted another response to her as she yelled again, his voice just not wanting to work today; and he heard her swear loudly and pound her way down the hall.  
Shaking his head, he forced himself to his feet, almost instantly becoming dizzy. He went sideways a bit, managing to catch hold of the bed frame and preventing himself from hitting the floor hard. In that short period of time, he had broken out in a cold sweat, his stomach turning several times over and it's contents barely keeping themselves in place.  
This was not good, this was very far from good. He could not afford to be sick now. If he got stuck laid up in bed, that gave Lan Fan's captors more time to break her and sell her. He might never find her then, and he'll have failed her. So, ignoring his bodies complaints, he slowly made his way over to pack up his things; eventually joining the others in the lobby.

It was a long quiet walk as they made their way to Suching. Li had to figure a new route out himself since Ling could barely see straight. And as time passed it became more and more obvious Ling was very far from alright. He got weaker and weaker as the day went on and the occasional rain showers and storms that still popped up from time to time weren't helping. Li swore he could see steam rising off Ling as the cold rain hit his feverish body. If Ling kept on this way, he wouldn't even live through the journey.

But Ling refused to stop no matter how many times Li asked him to. Ling just kept pushing himself harder and harder. Even Qiao had a look of worry on her face, which was really saying something. The whole group was now actively discussing how to get Ling off the road and into bed for a bit. They didn't even worry about if Ling heard them because he quite obviously couldn't. He was either very distracted or really that sick. Most likely the latter. He could barely pick his feet from the ground anymore and so was stumbling quite frequently. By the time Qiao had just suggested, in her true to form way, that they just grab him and drag him to the next town; he had slipped in the mud and fell face first to the ground, unmoving.  
_

Ling had fallen into a deep dark place. His eyes darted around, trying to figure out where he was. Where anyone was. He was alone in pure darkness, not even any sort of sound piercing it. And that, he discovered, included his own voice. He knew he was yelling, calling out, but he heard nothing. Panic began to creep it's way through his body, as he realized that it wasn't just that he couldn't hear anything, but he couldn't even see his hand when he put it in front of his face. Couldn't even feel his body as it moved. Was he really even moving then? Was he paralyzed? Worse...was he dead? The panic rose, he tried to run but without any feeling he couldn't even tell if he was moving. Or what he was even trying to escape. Trying to escape death maybe? Surely an impossible feat at the stage he was in now.

He again tried to scream out, over and over and over again, but still nothing was heard. He knew at this point he was sobbing, his mind was telling himself he was, it was like the only thing existing was his mind itself.

But then...he heard it. It was small at first but he was almost certain it was a voice. A small weak voice. Again he tried to call out but his own voice just didn't want to cooperate. All he could do was listen. And again he heard it, a bit louder this time. It was definitely a voice, a female voice. Asking for help? That's what it sounded like. A sad voice begging in the darkness. But soon the darkness itself parted a bit, just in one small area but enough to be noticed. And he knew he could see someone standing there, face in their hands, sobbing. He made an effort to reach out and this time, he could see his hand, feel it moving. Some of the panic left him at that moment but his concern was still strong. But, emboldened, he tried to talk again. It came out rough, almost as a squeak at first, but it was there; and the form ahead of him definitely heard it.  
Arms dropping to the side, the form looked up at him. He had been right, it was most certainly a female...but...no...it couldn't be. It was Lan Fan.

She turned her head from side to side, as if searching, like she heard him but couldn't see him. So again he yelled out, voice at the top of his lungs, pain echoing from within it. And with it, her head turned in his direction...and he gasped.

She really couldn't see him. The dark crimson trails running down her cheeks and the dark voids where her eyes should be was proof enough of her blindness.  
Her face contorted then, as she raised an arm and pointed an accusatory finger at him, glaring as best as the voids of her eyes would allow.

"You failed me! You let this happen to me! The things they did to me, the things they made me do to them! This is all your fault! You let her sell me off! You couldn't get to me in time! You were slow and unreliable just like you always were! You never do what you're supposed to, you just run around and make other people chase you! And when they need you most...you disappear...you let people down...If you had paid more attention for once you would have caught onto your mothers plans. Just like if you hadn't been such a greedy bastard and let that...thing into you...if you hadn't even decided to go to that country for that damned stone...grandfather would still be here! You failed us! You murdered us both!"

"No!" He cried out. "I mean...I...I had to do what I could! Our people would have been lost forever if I hadn't! It was the only thing I could do to gain the support needed! To bring something like that back...is the only thing that could have swayed the balance in my favor..."

She let out a dry, mirthless laugh as she dropped her arm back to her side. "Favor. Favor was all you ever wanted. You always just wanted your fathers approval. It was all greed Ling...greed that murdered both grandfather and I in the end."

She slowly moved forward, the darkness around her parting with each step she took, and filling in with each area she vacated. And with each step an article of her clothing would fall, till she stood completely naked in front of him.

"Look at me Ling. Look what your greed caused."

He forced his gaze away, both out of awkwardness and because if he didn't see, he didn't have to admit it to himself.

"LOOK AT ME DAMMIT!"

He flinched, still hesitating, but eventually allowing his eyes to fall back on her. They slowly traced a path over her body, from head to foot. His mind registered every bruise and burn. Every festering cut and the ones still bleeding, deep and angry. And even lower still...  
He turned his head away quickly with a agonized cry. Once he saw the dark bruises on her hips, each in the shape of fingers...he had to look away. He couldn't see the damage below that. Couldn't admit it happened. If he didn't...then it didn't happen. Well, he could pretend at least.

"You can't you know." She said at last, drawing his attention back to her. "Nothing you try will change anything. You caused this, all of this. Everything I went through was your fault. The beatings...the cruel words, the ra..."

"STOP IT!" He screamed out, throwing his hands over his ears. He wouldn't listen, wouldn't except it.

"...you're worthless...you always were. So just go home. You're obviously too late."

He squeezed his eyes shut, mumbling incoherently over and over to himself, blocking out any words that did manage to get through to his ears. But then...nothing. He felt alone again.  
He cautiously opened his eyes, arms falling to his sides as he realized she was gone.

He stood there, for how long he really didn't know. But at some point he finally broke, falling to his knees and burying his face into his hands. His shoulders shook as the sobs came heavy, completely uncontrollable. He knew it couldn't be. Somewhere inside, he knew he wouldn't make it on time.

He stayed that way till he thought he could hear another voice. It didn't sound like Lan Fan's this time, but it did sound familiar. And the direction it was coming from...there was a light. The darkness was being broken there.  
So, building up what courage he could, he walked towards it. If he was lucky, it was the afterlife calling to him, then all this pain could finally end. Yes. He wouldn't have to worry about anything anymore. So with a forced smile on his face, he stepped into the light.

"...complete idiot you know that?"

Confused by the words, Ling slowly opened his eyes. He was in a room...somewhere. Sure as hell wasn't the afterlife, otherwise they had bad fashion sense. But as his mind started to clear a bit more, he realized someone was leaning over him. He let his eyes wander up a bit to see Mei leaning over him, applying a wet cloth to his forehead.

"...there you are. Thought we were going to lose you for a bit there idiot." But this time her voice sounded less biting and more relieved. "You had a real high temperature, slipped into a sort of coma. Took everything we could do to get it down, and you were throwing a right fit...guessed you were hallucinating or something..."

Was he then? Was that what all that was? Just a hallucination from the fever? It had to be, because there's no way Lan Fan would talk to him like that...would she? What if the coma just left him open to hear her ghostly words? What if she was dead? What if she did mean all those words? What if they really did...

His thoughts trailed of as he began to panic again, his breathing quickened, causing him to hyperventilate. He tried to throw the covers off and jump from the bed, despite his sisters attempts to keep him on the bed. But she was still quite obviously much smaller than him and it was a losing battle, so she called out for someone to come in and help her.

Li was in there in no time, rushing over and grabbing a hold of Ling, forcing him down. But in his delusional state, Ling was insanely strong and it was taking everything Li had to keep him down. He soon had no other choice but to call the others in there, and it took the whole lot of them to finally push him down. But he still fitfully thrashed about beneath them, eyes wide in absolute terror.

"I'm sorry! Oh god Lan Fan I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this!"

"What's he on about?" Qiao yelled over his cries.

"He's still in a delusional state! Probably dreampt something up and he thinks it's real!" Mei yelled as she tried to avoid her brothers thrashing limbs. But finally, suddenly, he went still.

The others seemed momentarily alarmed but Mei knew what was up. "Back up, the lot of you!"

They did so quickly as Ling shot up again. Mei barely got the bucket in front of him before a mixture of odd colored things poured forth from his stomach.  
It wasn't long though before he fell back on the bed, spent. Mei grimaced and set the pail back on the floor again, covering it so she wouldn't have to see it or endure the stench.

"...there...you alright now...?"

Ling was breathing heavy still, trying to center himself, but he did manage to carefully nod his head. Then he looked at her again, alarmed. She frowned and looked up at the others.

"...could you guys leave us for a bit?"

"You sure?" Li asked.

"Yeah, he's ok now. Has his senses back. I'll call if I need you again though."

He nodded a bit reluctantly as he lead the others out, closing the door soundly behind them.

It was almost instantly that Ling started going off on everything he had seen, what had happened. It took all poor Mei could do to keep up with what he was saying. But finally he quieted, exhausted.

"Ling...it wasn't real. Those were all fears made up in your head, brought on by the fever. You...you collapsed on the way here, the others carried you as far as they could till they lucked out and saw a farmer with a wagon up the road. He brought you here. They told me what happened, that you were out in the Monsoon damming the river. Are...are you an idiot? You remember what happened before don't you? You have to be careful when out in the weather. You were weakened..."

"Yeah, I remember." He said, his voice rough and barely audible. "I was there...how could I not remember?"

"And you still risked it?"

"They needed help."

"They had a whole town to help. They obviously were all going to pitch in whether you went out there or not." She let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes for a moment while she thought. She opened them again as she continued to speak. "You can't help anyone if you're dead Ling. Not the whole of Xing...not Lan Fan...you can't take risks like that. They said it could take ages for your system to recover...if at all."

He managed to push himself into a sitting position, despite his sisters protests. "There's more important things to deal with right now then me getting a little sick."

"A little sick!? Ling, you've been out for a week! You stopped breathing I don't know how many times! It was Pneumonia again, just like before! When..." She did her best to calm herself again, seeing the look on her brothers face. "When are you going to learn to just settle for a bit. They couldn't move either in that. They were as stuck as you. If anything you risked it by pulling that and getting yourself sick. You gave them more time..." She paused then, realizing that wasn't the right thing to say. "I...but I mean..."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean." Ling said, feeling horrible that he just bought the slave smugglers time. "I just...I wanted to get her back. I didn't want to waste any more time than I had to...I wasn't thinking..."

"Well...", Mei started slowly, "that's what love will do to you. But you can't take anymore risks like that Ling. Not if you want to get her back safely. Not if you want to fix this country. She'd scream at you till your ears bled if she knew the risk you just took you know..."

He blinked at her for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I know she would..."

It was Mei's turn to blink now. "You really don't know...do you?"

"Know what?" He asked, raising a brow.

"I heard it from Fu once...not long before...before we all went to Amestris...about when you were sick. When you got Pneumonia the first time. Lan Fan shrugged off training to sit with you the whole time..."

"...she did...?"

"Yeah...took a nasty beating from the teacher because of it...but she felt it was worth it..."

He was quiet then, thinking over things. He'd never known that. He knew they had become pretty close friends when they were kids, and he knew she'd do anything for him now. But he had no idea she had done something like that...when they were kids. Well, truthfully, he didn't remember much from that period in time to be honest. When he got sick the first time, the fever had been so bad it effected his memory, and for a short time, his motor skills. He just remembered his mom was really angry with him for some reason. His father...seemed stoic at best. But to this day he couldn't remember just why. What had happened. All he remembered was falling in the lake at the Summer Palace and getting real sick after. He remembered they had gone in early spring for some reason, thus the water was cold and he got sick. But he really couldn't remember how he fell in. Or why he was being yelled at later.

"Hey!"

He shook his head, not knowing he had zoned out for very long. "Yeah, sorry. Listening."

"You can't move for a while yet Ling. You're still in a pretty rough state. So for the time being we'll send some people out to get information, try to dig up some of the smuggling rings."

"...we?" He asked, confused.

"Come on Ling. You took my house under your wing, the lowest house of all. We're already far better off than we were before. Do you think they wouldn't be willing to help you?"

Honestly he was a bit caught off guard by that. He still thought they would in some form resent him for getting what they wanted for a member of their own house. Looks like there really was hope for the families after all.  
A small smile crossed his face then. It felt good to have at least one family not trying to murder him violently.

"...but as I said, you need to stay in bed Ling. This is the second time you nearly died from this."

"...I don't even remember the first time. I...I don't remember what happened exactly. Just...cold water, and mother yelling..."

Mei quirked a brow at that, but she didn't say anything smug to him about it. She had heard the stories, stories kept from him in an effort to use his memory loss as an advantage. Which of course failed.

She then let a slight smirk tug at the corner of her lip as she looked at him. "Happened cause you were doing what you do best. Disobeying and getting involved with a class lower than yourself. You saved Lan Fan's life..."


	5. Chapter 5

Ling bolted upright from his sleep, a cold sweat broken out on his brow. For almost every night since he'd gotten there, he'd been having repeated nightmares of what he had seen in his delirium. Lan Fan's face was continually haunting him, along with the words she had said. He knew it was because of the fever, but the words still stung, and they still made the question of 'what if' tingle at the back of his mind.  
He jumped as lightning flashed outside the window, brightening his room for a few moments before plunging him into darkness again. That's all he needed right now, more rain. But it was Monsoon season, not much he could do about it.  
He winced a bit as the door to his room opened, letting a little bit of light in, right onto his face unfortunately. The sting was made worse when someone flipped the switch on. After blinking a couple times, his eyes adjusted and he looked over to the doorway. Mei was standing there, a bit of a concerned look on her face. Despite the changes between them she did seem to try to hide her growing concern for him regardless.

"You alright?" She asked as she stepped into the room, closing the door.

"Yeah...bad dream is all..."

"...still seeing the same things hm?"

He only nodded. Despite being wide awake now he could still see Lan Fan's eyeless face staring back at him.

"...she'd never say things like that to you, you know that."

"Yeah, I know. I can't help it though. It's just...disconcerning..."

"We'll find her...get her back safe. Then she'll tell you herself she'd never say that to you. About the only way I'd see you actually fully believing it."

"If we find her..." He mumbled under his breath, barely audible.

Mei responded by smacking him on the arm. "Don't you dare start that now! That's no where near like you!"

"Oi! I'm still sore!"

"Tough! Don't talk like that then!" They spent the few moments following, just glaring at each other, both just mentally daring the other to make a move. It ended with Ling just letting out a deep sigh.

"It's raining again...we'll never get a chance to get moving at this rate..."

"...yeah, about that..."

"...what?"

"...there's been a landslide on the main road through the mountains...we're not going anywhere for the time being..."

Ling sucked in a sharp breath, running his hands through the hair that he only now realized someone had let down. He was trying his best not to turn in place and punch a hole in the wall.

"We'll find another path Ling. There's a whole bunch the woodcutters used to use in the old days. They're animal trails now so, they'll still be traversable. It's not like we have a plan yet anyway so sitting tight is all we can do now."

"I know...and I know they most likely still can't move either...but the thought of just leaving her in that place another day longer..."

"Shes strong Ling, you know that. Shes probably giving them more hell then they're giving her." He only gave her a look. She was trying to calm fears but it clearly wasn't working.  
Noticing she was fighting a losing battle, she instead walked over to the bedside table and grabbed a pitcher that sat there, pouring him some water. She handed it to him and sat next to him on the bed.

"So...what exactly did happen that day?" She asked cautiously.

"Hm?"

"That day...with Lan Fan. Where you got sick after. Fu only said so much."

He thought it over for a moment. This was clearly meant as some sort of distraction, a distraction he wasn't sure he wanted to talk about. But after a few moments, and a couple sips of water, he looked at her.

"Well we were pretty young at the time...so bits of it are fuzzy but...she was one of the servants at the time, too young to train yet. Mother used her for miniscule tasks, just to keep her busy. Despite how she acts today, or what she tells you, she was as much into getting into trouble as I was. She never turned down any sort of adventure I brought up...till that day..."

"...what happened...?"

He squeezed his glass a little tighter, looking down into it as the water within rippled with his trembling hands.

"She uh...wandered off. No one could find her. I mean, they looked everywhere. It was like she dropped off the face of the Earth or something. That's the one and only time I saw Fu flipping out like that...it was terrifying. I mean, even mother and father looked...concerned for him...that's when I knew it was bad. They never showed reactions like that...I wandered off after, to find her. Sad to say even I knew her better than her own Grandfather. I just...knew where to go."

"Hold on." Mei said as she scrunched up her face in confusion. "Why didn't anyone just search for her chi? She hadn't had any chi training yet had she?"

"No. And that's what made it weird. Either she taught herself and wasn't telling anyone, or...someone strong enough was hiding all chi surrounding them and her. Or worse of course...she could have been dead...but I knew she wasn't. If anyone's a survivor it's her."

"And that's when you found her...in the lake?"

"...not quite. She wasn't in it yet. But she was backing away from something...something in the treeline. No chi from either of them..." He narrowed his eyes a bit as the dark memory crossed his mind. He was back in that moment of time again, across the lake from her and knowing he might not get to her in time. Watching as she continued to back up, and the shadowy figure continued to push forward.

"She uh...she backed right into it, fell in the lake. On top of the fact that the water was still freezing at that point, she also couldn't swim at all. Couldn't even doggy paddle. I ran to her...keeping my eyes on her in case she went under, so I'd have a rough location of where she was. Totally forgot about the shadow at that point. Jumped in right when she went under...only just barely heard people yelling behind me...I just...nothing registered with me, not their words, or the biting cold of the water; nor the shear darkness under the surface. Luckily her chi was readable again...and I got hold of her arms and pulled her up. Fu was right there when I did...had to get her breathing again...father yanked me out and mother started screaming at me...I still didn't register any of it. We got her inside after she started breathing again...I tried to ask her what happened but...she refused to say what she saw. One of the older women said it was a Hungry Ghost or something...I don't know. We left after that, and by the time I got back to the Capital...I was sick..."

He quieted after that, a deep scowl embedded on his face. He saw that moment in life as one of his top bad memories, which is saying something with as many as he's had. But there was just something about the whole thing, like why someone was after Lan Fan. She was just a servant girl at the time, nothing to really gain from it. There were royal family all over the grounds to take for ransom, yet that was obviously not the idea. And there had been no sign of the shadowy figure after Lan Fan went in. In fact...the whole situation was just so completely off. For one, how the hell did someone get on to the grounds? And secondly...why did everyone clam up about it afterwords? Lan Fan hadn't been the only one refusing to talk about it, everyone refused to talk about it. In fact they seemed fine with just treating it as a child's bad dream, something that never really happened.  
And maybe that was it. Maybe Lan Fan's reasons for not talking wasn't her own. Maybe she was told not to. But why? Did they actually know who it was?

"...Ling? You alright there? You've gone so quiet..."

He shook his head a few times before looking back to Mei. "Sorry, hate thinking about that day is all. Still can't...wrap my head around the whole thing. I mean...you said Fu mentioned this to you? Why? Cause from that point on everyone acted like it didn't happen..."

"...I don't know really. It was during one of the meet ups of the houses top ranks. I was a lot younger and for a lot of reasons I wondered why I was there but...beyond all that...Fu just looked really nervous. I know it should be understandable with the houses gathered like that but, it was more so."

"...maybe that was it then. Maybe they did know who it was. Maybe they were there..."

"And you think they'd let him in the palace if they knew who it was?"

"Maybe they didn't have a choice. Because I'm sure they would have responded after the trespassing incident. There wasn't really a clear idea of who they were after really."

"Seems like there was to me. Lan Fan."

"Why would they go after a servant?"

"How long has her family been protecting yours? Maybe there's more to this? I mean, if your parents didn't react even if he was there, yet Fu did...seems pretty clear to me."

Ling scowled at this. She had a clear point, but he still couldn't understand why. "Maybe it's something we can look into later. The priority right now is rescuing Lan Fan."

"Well you'd better try to rest then. If you're strong enough you can join in tomorrow. But we'll do it in here. Doctor says you can't move quite yet. I'm fine. You're not. And to be quite honest...how are you not? Should it take this long for lungs to heal?"

"You tell me. You're the Alchehestris."

"...just sleep. I'll check in on you in the morning. If you're up for it we'll start planning." She got up after that and headed out the door, hitting the lights as she did so. And so Ling was left in the dark with more questions then he had before.

Meanwhile, miles and miles away, Lan Fan's situation had improved; if you could call it that anyway. She, along with many others, had been moved up to the upper levels of the facility, or whatever you wanted to call it. The bottom levels had flooded massively during the first rain storm, and sadly not everyone made it out. She shuddered as she remembered the screams of the people behind her, begging for help. Most of them were still locked in their cells, doomed to drown as the water filled up the tiny square rooms.

Now that she thought of it, the screams weren't the worst part. The worst part was hearing them die off, the knowledge that this was the moment the water covered their heads, drowning them.  
All that death and yet here she was again, still surviving. She always managed to somehow, like the gods were far from done with her. She wasn't sure if ,she saw this as a blessing or a curse. A chance to keep living till freedom hopefully found her, yet the knowledge she had so much more pain and humiliation to face.  
Her plans for her own escape was washed away with the waters, as the items she stashed away to help her now lay under feet of water.

At least where she was now, she had a window. It was but a tiny slit but it was enough to let some light in at last. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd even seen the light of the outside world. She couldn't even tell how long she had even been here anymore. It felt like years even though she knew that wasn't the case. Still felt like it regardless.

She sighed as she listened to the people outside, forced to work on building up thick walls of dirt and sandbags, in hopes of keeping any future floods of water at bay. She envied them a bit. Envied how they got to be outside in the fresh air, smelling things other then blood and sweat and death. She wished she could be out there too, though she knew that was impossible. She was more than likely the most dangerous person here, there was no way they'd let her outside, giving her even the slightest chance at escaping.  
She felt it was a bit much really. It was almost like they were doing everything possible to keep her in here. Granted, anyone who escaped was a threat to them. Especially if anyone made it back to civilization to report their whereabouts. So she could understand if they were far more cautious with her. If she got out their chances of finding her were next to nil.

But things still felt off, different. The people here being broken were also still being conditioned when they weren't being beaten. She, thus far, had not been. They did have to take more care in breaking her of course. It would be much harder to do compared to your normal person. But it still all felt wrong, like something else was going on. She was being treated differently and it didn't feel like the obvious reasons were the actual reasons. She was starting to believe she was more a tool than a source of income. She did work in the palace after all, she may not know a lot but, she still saw sections of the building no one else ever would. It was entirely possible they may be thinking about using her for Intel. Fat lot of good that would do them. She'd been trained never to crack under torture, to keep any and all secrets. Problem was despite all that, she already had cracked a bit. And all because Ling was her weakness. Something they wouldn't take long to figure out. Funny, the Empress just wanted to get rid of her, and she may have actually endangered the kingdom by doing so.

She shook her head a bit and leaned it back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. Being further up didn't mean better quality, the roof still leaked and drops of water from the previous rain fell to her face. Compared to the water torture she had faced earlier on, this felt almost soothing. This was something from the outside world touching her for the first time in a long time. Well, other than the light breezes that managed to get in every now and then anyway. It was enough to keep her slight glimmer of hope alive. She might make it out, one day. But would it be worth it? If she did it on her own, then maybe. But if Ling actually came for her, as she always knew he would, he'd be endangering himself. That was not acceptable.

She was brought from her thoughts as she heard the sound of the lock, and the slow ear piercing creak of the door as it opened. She looked ahead as the 'leader guy' as she came to know him, stepped in. She hadn't seen him since after she'd first gotten here, not that that was a bad thing.

She watched as he closed the door behind him and moved forward, stopping a safe distance away from her. He had a small smile on his face, one of those smiles that just screams don't trust anything this person says or does. But it was also a sign that this man was extremely confident, had to be to come in here alone.

"Hello again." He said, his voice almost sickeningly sweet. She really had a bad feeling about this guy.

"...forgive me if I don't extend any such courtesy." She replied with a hiss.

"And I wouldn't expect you to. Besides, anyone who does that usually has something up their sleeve and you don't want to know what happens to people that get that kind of idea."

"Oh you mean like you? You must just have something massive up your sleeve the way you carry on."

"Well, I won't lie there. I always have something up my sleeve, I am a business man after all."

"Slave trade is not a business."

"Perhaps to you. But when you're the low of the low, the people the palace forgets about, you try anything to survive."

"Right. Exploit everyone who's being exploited like you? Seems like a fair plan."

He turned the right side of his mouth up a bit, smirking deeper on that side. "The ones who just except whats going on and 'take it' so to speak, deserve everything they get. They should fight, not sit back and watch."

"Don't exactly see you fighting. You just sell peoples lives like some mere trinket in the market."

"Oh my dear, that's where you're wrong. So very wrong. Everyone here has a purpose. And everyone plays a part in the grand scheme of things."

She only narrowed her eyes a bit, not at all liking the direction this was going. "Just get to your point, I'm dying of old age here."

"In due time my dear. I don't like to spoil the surprise after all."

"Then why the hell are you here? To mock me?"

"Oh no no no. I would never think of such a thing my dear."

"...you can stop calling me that." She growled, having quite enough of his antics.

"I don't see you in the position of telling me anything, my dear." He stared quietly at her a few moments before turning and knocking on the cell door. "You won't have long to wait till you have your answers though, I assure you." He said over his shoulder.  
She only continued to glare at him as the door opened and he stepped out. After his footsteps disappeared down the hall, she laid her had back against the wall again, listening as thunder again rolled in the distance.

A/N

And...had to fix it again. Sorry if you caught it on the first upload and it was all clumped together. I don't know why I'm having issues with it. It should be fixed now...I hope.


	6. Chapter 6

Niu stormed into the leaders office, throwing the door open so hard it slammed against the wall and bounced back a bit. It concerned him little though as he stormed forward, stopping in front of the leaders desk.

"...can I help you Niu?" The leader asked, only just glancing up from what he was working on at his desk.  
Niu showed even less respect then he did moments before, as he slammed both hands down on his desk, glaring at him.

"We just lost a shit ton more merchandise Fa! Had a fucking landslide bout' ten minutes ago! How long are you going to let this go on!? We're gonna lose money Fa!"

The leader, Fa, slowly raised his eyes to him before ever so gently setting his pencil down on the desk. Releasing a deep, controlled sigh, he got up from his seat and rounded the desk.

Niu stood up a bit taller, turning to face him as he rounded the desk.  
Fa stayed quiet for a few moments, just staring at Niu, making him as uncomfortable as possible. This of course seemed to be very effective as the underling shifted from foot to foot, trying to look anywhere but at Fa's face.

"Niu." Fa started quietly, reaching out to the man and ever so gently adjusting the collar on his button up shirt, grimacing ever so slightly at the blood stains splotched about the garment.

"...ye...yes?"

Again Fa fell silent before gripping Niu's shirt collar tightly and lifting him up, carrying him a distance across the room towards a far wall before slamming him against it. Niu hissed in pain but other than that, wisely stayed silent.  
Fa, on the other hand, spoke with a controlled evenness.

"Niu. There is a reason why I am the leader here and someone like you are not." He growled lowly. "I have the brain cells and you do not. What I do here, how I run things, is none of your concern. Your job is to only follow every word I say without question. And never, EVER are you to address me by name. I am just 'sir' to you, nothing else. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Niu only swallowed hard.

Fa responded to this by gripping his collar tighter and slamming him against the wall again, harder this time. "Am I...clear?"

"..ye...yes sir."

"Good." Fa growled as he released him and let him fall to the floor, crumpling into a ball. "I know what I am doing Niu. It's the same thing I've been doing long before you came here and I'm sure, long after you've departed. So lets keep that straight hm?" Then he knelt in front of Niu, glaring at him. "And never are you to just barge in here without knocking. And never do you again raise your voice to me. And don't ever come in here again in a disgusting shirt as that. Or so help me, what I'll do to you, will far surpass what is done to everyone here. Is that understood?"

Niu could only nod slowly. He didn't trust his voice any longer and he was only barely managing to keep his bladder from releasing.

"Good. Now get up, and get the hell out of my office. And tell Lau to get in here."

Again Niu only nodded as he scrambled to his feet, tripping over himself as he made his way out of the office. Fa only growled as he made his way back to his seat, looking over as Lau entered the room only moments after.

"You wanted to see me sir?"

"Please close the door."

Lau did as he was told before he made his way over to the desk, stopping in front of it and waiting quietly for Fa to speak.  
Fa continued to finish his work before looking up at the older man. Lau looked far out of place compared to everyone there. He was well in his sixties, hair long since turned silver, creases crisscrossing his face. He held himself with an air of dignity but also one of a humble man. He surely did not belong here. But then again, if he wasn't, than neither would Fa. The chains of fate long ago linked the two and he owed the older man a life debt he would not soon forget.

"Niu says we just lost a hand full more merchandise, is that true?"

"Yes it is sir. Twenty-seven to be exact sir." Lau stated as he situated his hands behind his back.

Fa sighed deeply and sat back in his seat, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "We really aren't situated in the best place here. But anywhere else and we'd be vulnerable. We need a plan before we lose anymore people. What side was the landslide on?"

"The North sir. The hill behind the base gave way."

"That's too close. The walls are reenforced but a good enough flow could still take us out. Chances are though since that finally gave way most of the loose earth has already fallen. So another slide from that side seems unlikely. The water is still a greater threat though. How high is it getting?"

"It's halfway up the sandbag walls sir. If it keeps raining like this I don't expect it to hold."

"Shit." Fa cursed as he got to his feet, stalking the room. "We'll have to have some of the staff reenforce the walls. We can't risk anymore of the merchandise. We have to make sure that wall holds till the storm passes. Then...I'll send a messenger out. We don't have a choice but to move everyone out."

"Sir? How would we do that? With the numbers..."

"I have connections. Don't worry about that Lau. Just get together the strongest we have and keep that wall up. I'll deal with the rest."

"Yes sir." Lau said with a low bow.

"You may go now."

"Sir." Lau kept bowed, backing up till he reached the doorway before turning to open it. He again bowed low before backing out, closing the door with him.

Fa stood, watching the door for some time after Lau had left. Things had begun to fall apart so quickly. He had been so nearly finished with his plans, but he had been too slow. The monsoons had beat him to it and now he was forced to wait, and the longer he waited the the more time he was giving to his enemies. He contorted his face, gripping his right hand into a tight fist and lashing out, punching the wall. He wouldn't lose, not again. Things would work this time, he would make them work. For far too long he had been trodden over and spit on but not anymore. He would come out on top this time. And no storm was going to stand in his way.

Ling slowly blinked his eyes open. Somewhere, in the distance, he was sure he could hear voices. He hadn't been all that sure though, seeing as his mind seemed to be full of voices these days. But as he laid quietly in the room, listening, he could tell he was indeed hearing voices. Those outside his head for once.

Wincing, and with a bit of effort, he pushed himself up to a sitting position, forcing his legs to swing off the side of the bed. Just that effort alone sent a jolt of pain through his entire body. He was so sore. He almost felt like he had been run over by a herd of horses or something. But he willed his way through it, pushing himself ever so slowly over to the door.

He stumbled more then once, his feet failing to do as his brain demanded them. And with all the effort he was nearly exhausted by the time he reached the door. But he only paused for a moment before opening the it, causing all conversation in the next room to cease.

"Ling." Mei growled. "I said if you felt up to it you could join us today. You look like you died three times over."

"You said if I feel up to it. Well I feel up to it."

"That's not..."

"So what are you discussing? It all sounded pretty important judging by the tones."

Li looked to Mei, trying to ask silently if it was ok to tell him anything. Mei only shrugged. She knew damn well she wasn't going to win this battle anyway.

"This monsoon is the worst it's been in years. There's almost no chance at the time to be heading any further North. Most the main roads are covered under feet of debris from landslides. In fact most the officials out here aren't even letting anyone go any further North, for obvious reasons. It's all mountains and hills up there, and they're all breaking up."

"I don't care! We can't keep dragging our feet on this! How much time can we waste before they decide to take a risk!?"

"You're talking about risks!? What about the risks to us!?" Qiao barked at him, taking very quick steps towards him and stopping just as their faces became mere inches apart. "You aren't the only one going into this remember! Any risky move you make reflects back on us you know!"

"You don't have to come!"

"We have our reasons for going too so don't you dare feed me that bullshit! Do you think we like just standing around here either? That we're not chomping at the bit to get our hands on those assholes!? But we know that if we just go rushing into something that is far out of our control, we'll just be killed! Get it through your thick fucking head! If you die, she loses her hope! We can't help her, we don't even know what she looks like! She'll be sold, probably to some sweaty slob who'll have his way with her and it'll all be your fault!"

"Qiao! That's enough!" Li snapped, stalking over and grabbing her arm. "You're supposed to make a point, not give him nightmares, make him feel like shit."

"He needs to be brought down a few pegs. He's acting like some stuck up noble brat!"

The room fell dead silent after that. Qiao was still fuming, everyone else was just holding their breath to see what would happen next. But nothing did, nothing groundbreaking anyway. Ling only nodding slightly a few times, not even meeting her gaze now. Without another word, he turned and slowly made his way back to the bedroom, slamming the door.

Li glared at his sister, yanking on her arm so hard it looked like he nearly tore it off.

"You and I seriously need to have a discussion about how to treat people who are emotionally off." He growled. "You aren't going to make him open his eyes you know. You're just making him think stupid."

"Who says we need him anyway? We have the general direction, we can just take care of our part ourselves. We don't need that moron."

"...how insensitive are you...? If mother saw you now..."

She yanked her arm free of him, glaring. "Never mention her again! How dare you!?"

"Hurts doesn't it? To have your emotions used as a weapon against you?" She said nothing more and just stalked from the room, leaving everyone at a loss for words. At no point was this supposed to turn into a fight amongst themselves, but it had. And that was only adding to the difficulty of the situation.

Mei sighed deeply, causing the group to startle a bit and look at her. "Li, do me a favor and see if you can find any routes that may still be useful. If it's safe enough we'll find a way to sneak through the lines the officials set up. 'IF' they're safe enough. I'm going to go talk to Ling."

He nodded slowly, starting to move towards the door. He was stilled as Mei's hand fell gently on his arm.

"I know that couldn't have been easy to say, but I thank you for it. I would have throttled her otherwise."

"...I might yet. Shes...shes not a bad person, just hurting...a lot. She doesn't like to share her feelings. ...in some ways...she and Ling aren't that different..." She pulled her hand away then and let him continue on while she moved on to go talk to Ling.

She found him sitting on the bed facing away from her, looking out the window. His head was low, his shoulders dropped. She slowly made her way over to him, taking a seat next to him. He quickly turned his face from her view, but it didn't take much to know the state he was in. But she wasn't about to point it out. For once she was going to hold her tongue, she did know her limits after all.

"...I'm not agreeing with how she said things, but you do need to take this one step at a time Ling. You won't even make it to the next town with the condition you're in. Besides that...we don't have the numbers to do this. And with the flooding...well...my family is too busy taking care of the townspeople around them right now...they need everyone they can get. So I...I reached out a little further. "

He slowly turned to face her now, eyes wet and puffy, but he still hadn't let anything in the way of tears fall. "What do you mean?"He asked, voice cracking a bit.

"...I called the Elric's."

"Mei..."

"Save it Ling. We need help. And we're in the middle of a natural disaster here. We can't count on anyone for help here. And they were more than willing. They're already on their way anyway so protesting won't do any good."

Ling only nodded before looking back out the window. The rain was still coming down in torrents outside, the visibility so low he could barely see the hedges that were just outside the window. He watched as the trees blew nearest the house, bending so far one way or another that they looked about ready to snap at any moment. How they hadn't yet surprised him.

"...Ling..."

"What have I been doing Mei? Seems like I'm always dragging people into my personal affairs. Got that...dumb idea to go after the Philosophers Stone...so Lan Fan and Fu had to follow...so they got mixed up in a war...Fu lost his life...Lan Fan lost her Grandfather...now I drag this poor lot of people into something...risking them. Now Ed and Al are coming...how many more people are going to die Mei?"

"Enough of this talk Ling. You keep making it sound like just because you suggest something people have to do it. But everyone that's followed you have done it because they wanted to. Yes, it was Fu and Lan Fan's duty, but I know they would of followed you regardless. So get your head off the subject and put it on more useful things."

Finally he smiled a bit, finally letting some words sink in. "Thanks Mei. Hey uh...is it too late to get any breakfast?"

"And he's back. I'll ask them to make you something, but you're not getting anything elaborate. You're still recovering. Now lay back down."

"Yes ma'am." He said sarcastically. She gave him a quick look which caused him to comply without another word. He carefully planted himself back in his previous position, bringing the blanket up to just under his nose as he watched her go. He was starting to wonder which could be more dangerous. The storm or Mei Chan.

By early evening, the rain had finally started to let up, but not before adding more damage to the already long list. Suching had taken a pretty nasty blow. There wasn't a house or place of business that wasn't damaged in one way or another. And more than a few buildings had been completely destroyed, either by the strong winds or trees falling over. On the outskirts fields were completely flooded and any crop that may have still been left in them were now completely drowned.

Mei's residence hadn't fared any better. One section of the roof towards the back had been damaged badly. Part of it had roofing torn up while in another area, a portion of the roof had caved in around the storage room area. Luckily no one had been back there at the time so they could successfully say they came through unharmed. But servants were already busy getting a temporary roof up at least. At least it would keep any rain from the smaller passing showers out. Useful till the next storm front came through anyway. There just wasn't the time to fix it up right before that happened, nor was it worth it. It would just be damaged again.

Li returned about this time. Power had gone down a short time after Mei had asked him to try to get some more info on any open roads, so he took it upon himself to brave the storm to personally talk to the local road technicians. They of course thought he was completely mad for going out in the storm, and equally pissed that he'd bother them at a time like that for local road conditions. They did indeed brand him an absolute nutter.  
But he got what he wanted regardless by looking himself. That way they could keep about their business and he could keep out of their way for the most part.  
Course he wasn't about to go back out into the torrent either so they were no less pissed when he decided to stay and wait it out. If he was going to stay, he was going to work, much to his dismay. So only now had he managed to get away.

As he entered through the gate, he found his sister standing out front under the overhang smoking a cigarette. He shook his head as he approached, stopping to stand in front of her.

"Thought you quit?"

"Thought you died in the storm. Are you an idiot?"

"Generally." He moved now to get out of the light shower that still persisted stubbornly, standing next to her. "I'm sorry...about earlier. I just...you're taking it pretty hard on the poor guy. You know he's really scared for her."

"I know. But I'm not about to die for his stupidity."

"That's what love does Qiao. If you truly have it you'd go to hell and back for that person. And it makes you not think sometimes. He didn't mean to put us in any danger. But...well we know what happens if too much time passes. We've...been in his place before, and lost..."

Qiao turned her head to look at him now, perplexed by her brother's state of mind. He had had moments like this before but, they were few and far between. Or at least far more subtle than this.

"...were you two...?"

"...almost. Just wasn't time..."

"I see..." She looked ahead again and then up towards the sky. "...don't know how I never noticed."

"Heh. How could you notice? You don't believe in it. You always called it a useless emotion. A trick played on people to make more little...parasites was it?"

"...that may have been a bit harsh in retrospect."

"A bit?"

She gave him a look, though it wasn't as sharp as it usually could be. "Yes...a bit. I'm just not the domestic type. But I suppose taking it out on the little shrimps wasn't really fair."

"...you're being awfully nice..." He stated cautiously. But she didn't respond like she usually would to his tone.

"Wouldn't be fair to be harsh to you now would it?"

"No, wouldn't be now would it?"

For a bit they fell quiet, watching the rain fall till it slowly petered out. They could hear the workers clambering about on the roof still as well, shouting at each other as they tried their best to get the roof secure so they could begin cleaning inside.

"...so, did you find anything out?" Qiao asked after a bit, finally breaking the silence.

"Not much. None of the log roads are safe anymore obviously. All the main roads are heavily watched by local policers. Any of the side roads that are possibilities are hiking trails and even those are iffy. They do eventually lead up through the hills after all."

"So we're stuck then?"

"Pretty much. Unless we break through a blockade. Which is complete suicide. This place is a mess. Won't be long till this country goes under martial law. Like...more so than it already is..."

"Can they do that without orders from the Palace?"

"Out here? They can do what they like. Things are still so precarious right now with the shift in power soon to come at the Palace, that everyone's doing their own thing. A lot of the officials are not fond of the next ruler."

"And where is he in all of this anyway? The Emperor's dying isn't he? Shouldn't the Prince be doing something?"

"Doesn't have power yet. Most likely everything falls under the Dowager Empresses control for now."

"Shes no better..."

Li only sighed as he looked up at the sky now. "Shes the least of our problems right now. Like I said, their word doesn't mean much out here right now, if at all. They rarely come out here to inspect anything, and with this fucking weather...the officials out here are just going to enforce their own rules. Probably start making the poor people go into forced labor soon to fix all this..."

"...things won't get any better will it? This monsoon is just a turning point...I can feel it. Somethings coming."

"It's already here. This monsoon just gave them the opening they needed. Hell's going to break loose..."

Qiao took on a solemn look now, one that very rarely graced her features. She knew it was true, and even she lamented in the thought.

Further up North, Lau watched as people were being stuffed into military trucks that had arrived shortly after the rain let up. He was still a bit baffled by their arrival, along with the identity of said military trucks. He was starting to wonder just what Fa was getting himself into.

He got his moment to address the issue soon enough as the last of the people were loaded into the trucks. Fa came out after the final group was locked away and the truck began to move off, following the procession of similar trucks ahead of it. He wasn't alone though, he dragged a heavily chained Lan Fan behind him.

Lau watched as she continued to fight him the whole way, trying her best to hold her ground. There were continuous tracks where she dug herself in and he practically dragged her, leaving tiny trenches in the ground.

"Sir...what...?"

"Not now Lau." He growled as he pulled Lan Fan over to the last remaining truck.

This one was a smaller one, not a troop transport. More than likely a supply truck. But as he joined at Fa's side, he noticed it had been modified quite a bit. There were rows of heavy chains along either wall, and circles he didn't recognize were etched along inside. He presumed it was some form of Alkahestry , or Alchemy, he wasn't really sure as he knew little of either of them. But seeing as this had obviously been turned into a prisoner transport, they must be some form of blocking circles. Alkahestry, he knew in some small part anyway, was far different from the Alchemy of the west. It was drawn from the dragons pulse and was rather hard to block with mere circles. So they either found a way, or these weren't for blocking Alkahestry at all. But maybe for blocking chi reading. After all, as far as he knew, this woman here was the only person in the whole facility who could chi read.

He watched closer now as Fa shoved her into the truck, climbing in behind her. He began to chain up every limb and even her neck before removing the chains used to restrain her as he brought her out. One thing Fa was, he was no fool. This was a dangerous girl, a smart girl. And judging by her separation from the others, a special girl.

He backed away after Fa finished restraining her, watching as she tested her restraints. 'Already looking for weaknesses. Good girl.' Lau thought to himself. But he knew it was for not. He could see by her testing of the restraints, that the walls of the truck too were modified. They were built thicker and stronger. She wasn't getting loose anytime soon if at all.

Fa hopped down at this point, still saying nothing as he gave her one final look before shutting the back of the truck up and latching it, adding a lock for good measure. He was acting as though he were transporting a deadly weapon, which in retrospect, he really was.  
He double checked both the latch and the lock before nodding his head at Lau, motioning for him to get into the drivers side of the truck. He of course obliged as he always did. But worry was biting at the old mans mind. Every inch of him was now questioning what was going on here.  
It wasn't until both were in the truck, and they were making their way to catch up with the procession ahead, that Lau dared speak again.

"Fa...sir...what's going on here?"

"Just drive."

"I...I cannot help but worry. You separated the girl from the others. The way you handle her...your connections...and these trucks...these trucks especially. Forgive me for being blunt sir but...these are Drachman trucks..."

Fa was quiet for a few moments, obviously fighting with himself on if he should answer him or not. Finally he turned his head to look out the window, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Some of them are. Well...all of them are. But only some are from the Drachman military. The others are decommissioned ones sold to Aerugo."

"...Aerugo? Sir...what?"

"Just keep driving Lau. Or I might forget that I owe you for my life." He stated as he turned his head to look at him, eyes narrowed and cold, voice deadly serious.

Lau did as he was told and continued on down the road, asking no further questions.


End file.
